RWBY Dimensional Cinema!
by Sir Attlich
Summary: The RWBY cast find themselves stuck in a peculiar room with seemingly no way out. Luckily, a kind souls approaches them and promises them that he will return all of them home. In the meantime, they might as well watch something. Oh, and the kind soul's name? It's Bob. (AN: Still not accepting requests/suggestions. Don't even bother.)
1. Prologue

**It's here.**

 **It's finally here.**

 **The worst shitshow that I ever made, now REBOOTED & RELOADED, yeah BOI!**

 **And for all you retarded fucks that skim through important shit - I still don't accept requests nor do I accept suggestions.**

 **Don't waste my time with that.**

 **Without further ado, I bring you the revamped version of this garbage Reaction!Fic.**

 **Enjoy the free fun!**

* * *

The patience of the Dark God is something that was not to be tested - the humans on the planet he and his brother created learned that...the hard way.

Yet there he stood in front of them - at first glance, a simple man that looked like a drifter, an outcast with a strange bronze mask of a bearded man, someone who perhaps won't be missed by anyone.

Or so he thought.

The man in question was now openly laughing at them.

"So, lemme see if I got this right...you two asshats are NOW asking for MY help because a bigger asshat is coming and is gonna destroy your whole plane of existence?"

 **"If the tables were turned, I'd have your tongue ripped off with my bare han-"**

 **"Enough, brother."** The Light God interrupted, and spoke again, **"Yes, we do. Due to your...unique powers, you are the only one capable enough that could help us with this...problem."**

"...Y'know, it's funny how you say _'us'_ as in both of you and not the people of Remnant you created. The last time I heard, you were going to _'judge'_ humanity when you returned to it."

 **"It is our business what we do with our creations, not yours."** the Dark God responded.

"Frankly if I could, I'd judge you by chopping your heads of and then playing hopscotch on your remains." the man paused for a moment, and then continued,"...You certainly know how to manipulate people, don't you, Light One? You're counting on the fact that I actually care about Remnant so that I answer your call for help. Am I right?"

 **"I will not sugarcoat this to you-"**

"Like you did with Ozma."

The Light God ignored the comment and continued," **But w** **hat you say is true. However, for balance and perfection to exist, disorder and chaos must be put to rest. This creature that comes brings the latter, and its actions will not bode well for all of us. Including everyone on the plane we've created."**

The masked man looked at them, and even if it couldn't be seen, contempt for the Gods was radiating through his very being.

"It's funny how in every age I stumble upon, I end up cleaning up the mess or doing an errand for the local Gods. The difference between you and them is that you're aware of my powers and the ways I can use them to end you easily - fate knows you'd deserve it."

 **"Do not test me, child."** The Dark God said, to which the man immediately responded with:

"I won't, cuz you'd probably fail."

 **"Enough, please!"** The Light God pleaded, but the sentence now made the man's gaze switch on him.

"Please? Did you hear Salem's countless pleads when she begged you to return Ozma to her? When she begged you to let her die?"

 **"...She brought it upon herself."**

"You're saying as if she had any choice in the matter. That's why you'll never understand humanity - desperate men will do desperate things, and all you did was make her into the monster that she is now."

The masked figure then pointed at the God of Light and said:

"And don't think I haven't noticed how you tried to manipulate my emotions by including them."

Silence echoed between the three, waiting to be broken by someone.

...

"Give me some time to prepare and I'll be on my way. On several conditions, of course."

...

 **"We are listening."**

* * *

Ruby had absolutely no idea how she ended up here.

In one moment, her sore body was getting to bed after the fight against Cinder and her allies at Haven, and in the next, well...

 _'Seriously, where am I?'_

Her first thought was that she was kidnapped by someone who works for Salem, which would've make sense...if her _'apparent'_ prison didn't have aligned grouped seats separated by color on one side of the room and a giant white screen accompanied by an empty flower vase on the other side.

Said room itself was probably the size of a Beacon classroom, if not a bit smaller. Probably the strangest thing about the room was the lighting. No light bulbs, no fluorescent dust, but yellow floating balls that somehow emitted light.

And pretty strong light at that.

So she soundly concluded that she wasn't kidnapped by anyone who's connected to Salem. While she ruled out one possibility, Ruby couldn't wrap her head around where or why she was in a cinema-like room.

"Uh, hello?"

Her words didn't echo like she thought they would, which meant that the room probably had some sort of a sound barrier around it.

Ruby noticed that there weren't any exit doors in sight, which made her a little bit panicky.

 _'Calm down Ruby - you are a huntress! Well, huntress-in-training, but still! First things first - gotta find Yang and the rest.'_

So she searched the whole room high and low, and called for her sister, her friends and her uncle, but to no avail.

Ruby, however, couldn't help but to notice the odd line-up of the chairs in the room. And it was, since the chairs were split up into three groups, with each group representing a typical color.

The largest group were the white chairs, that sported 22 seats altogether...

 _'Waitaminute - that one's far too wide to be counted as one! Oh, it's a 'couples-only', like ones in cinemas!'_

So Ruby counted a total of 23 white chairs. The next group were the grey chairs, which was the smallest group as it had only 3 seats in total.

The final group were the black chairs, that had 8 of them. Said chairs had individual arms and were slightly separated from each other, probably so that the ones that sit themselves on them have as much space as possible.

Ruby also found out that the chairs were quite soft and comfy too, which was nice since she woke up on the floor that felt like it was made from solid rock.

 _'Now that I think about it, it does kinda look like a cinema room...which probably isn't a place where bad guys usually put their hostages. I think.'_

She puffed and sat on one of the white seats.

"I wonder where Yang and the others are..."

 **"No worries, all of them are safe and sound!"**

The voice took Ruby by surprise, she jumped from her seat and tried to reach for her weapon...which wasn't strapped on her in the first place.

 **"In fact, they're going to join you right about...now."**

Ruby was a bit baffled when she saw black, spinning holes forming in front of all chairs. White smoke came from the outlines of the holes, giving them a more phantom-like look.

What was even more strange was that human-like figures started emerging from those holes and were being shaped into the people she knew all too well.

Family, teammates, friends, teachers...and enemies alike.

"Ruby...?"

* * *

Oscar was going through a multitude of moods.

First he felt a bit...dazzy?

The last thing he remembered was informing Qrow( by Ozpin's instructions) before passing out from exhaustion.

Secondly, he felt a bit...

 _'Empty?'_

He tried to reach out to Ozpin, but the former Beacon Headmaster wasn't there to answer.

Scratch that, Oscar felt like Ozpin wasn't in his head at all! It was a liberating feeling, as if a great burden was removed from his shoulders. But he couldn't help that he sensed an...emptiness inside of him.

Granted, he DID share his body with Ozpin, and without him in the picture - Oscar had a lot more space.

 _'Speaking of that, this...room is quite spacy. Wait, is that...'_

"Ruby...?"

"Oh, Oscar! I mean Ozpin! I, uh, who am I speaking to now?" Ruby mumbled out.

"It's me, Ruby. I don't think Ozpin...is with me anymore."

"It is because I am present here Mr. Pines, Mrs. Rose."

Both of them turned and looked below them to see the Headmaster of Beacon alive and well, albeit he was missing his cane.

"H-Headmaster? You're alive!" Ruby yelped, almost with an excited glee. The Headmaster placed both of his hands behind his back, forming his usual posture.

"But how, you may ask? I'm afraid that I don't know that myself, and that is..."

"Pyrrha?"

Ruby and Oscar turned behind them, while Ozpin simply looked a bit further to see the shocked eyes of Jaune Arc that were set on his former teammate, Pyrrha Nikos.

"Jaune...I..."

She didn't get the chance to finish as her body was wrapped in a tight hug, given by her team leader. Pyrrha reflexively returned the hug.

"Oh, get a room you two!"

Ruby eyes darted to the source of a familiar voice that she hasn't heard in a long time...

"Torchwick!?"

The notorious criminal never got the chance to properly respond to his longtime nemesis...because Neo tackled him with a hug to a chair.

She noticed that there were quite a lot of people too - the professors from Beacon, General Ironwood, a couple that kinda resembled Blake in some way, Weiss' sister, uncle Qrow, her dad...

And she just noticed that he's been starring at her for some time.

"Oh, uh...hi dad."

Taiyang's face wasn't a happy one, that's for sure. And Ruby knew that her dad had all the reasons to be mad at her.

"I'm sorry for leaving...like that. I..."

Ruby didn't know what else to say.

Fortunately, she didn't have to, as Taiyang dropped the serious facade and started laughing a bit.

When his laughter died out, he said:

"Oh, you should've seen the look on your face! It's alright, sweetie - I already forgave you. But next time, just... tell me instead of disappearing like that."

"But...you probably wouldn't let me go if I did."

"Hm, true enough. Ah well, like it matters now. Anyway, I think that someone over there is quite eager to see you." Taiyang said as he pointed to Ruby's left.

"Hello, friend Ruby!"

"P-P-PENNY?!"

* * *

He would be lying to himself if he thought that the whole scene was not...amusing.

Which it kinda was.

 _'I mean, c'mon - when was the last time I've been in the same room with the characters of one of my favorite shows?'_

So he gave them all a minute to get their marbles together - after all, it can be quite a shocker to see your loved ones who died in front of your eyes standing right in front of you.

 _'Well, come to think of it - not that long. Eh, still - it's like a cake you simply cannot get enough of.'_

It was...heartwarming, with both the good and the bad guys too. He saw how Emerald was restraining herself from breaking down upon seeing Cinder alive and well beside her.

Speaking of Cinder...

He noticed how the Fall Maiden started to act a bit panicky, and he knew very well why.

 _'Well, might as well start this charade now...'_

 **"I presume all of you have calmed down a bit?"**

His booming voice got everyone's attention now.

Heh, this is going to be even more fun than I expected...

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Yang demanded, with a threatening tone at that...

 **"Tsk tsk tsk...such disrespect, even after I've gave you something you lost long ago..."**

True to that, Yang's robotic arm was replaced with a flesh and blood one. He saw her shocked face when she realized it, but now it seemed like either she decided to roll with it, or she completely forgot about that.

 _'The attention span of a typical rowdy action girl, sigh...'_

 **"You are lucky that I'm in a good mood now, otherwise...well, what you got back might be lost again. I ask of you to take your seats, _please_."**

The blonde brawler backed off a bit and did exactly what he told them all to do. Most of the cast sat down...but not all of them.

"And who are you to ask anything of us?" Salem asked as all of her followers stood beside her.

 **"How rude! Why, I am your host and all of you...are my guests. Now , would you kindly take your seats?"**

And like that, everyone else who was standing sat on their respective chairs...even if it wasn't a voluntary action. Everyone except Salem, who still had a stern look that was locked on him.

 _'Huh, guess being an immortal prissy master of the Grimm makes someone able to resist the phrase. Work of charm has to do, it seems.'_

 **"It would be so much easier and a lot less awkward if you would sit down and let me explain all of...this."**

Salem eyes darted throughout the room, looking for the source of the voice. But the only thing she saw was that everyone was sitting and looked as though they were expecting her to sit as well.

If she were the girl she once used to be, she might've been embarrassed at the whole predicament. Eventually, Salem sat, since she found no point on prolonging something foolish.

And unlike Cinder, she wasn't showing nerves over the lack of her magical abilities. Not in front of _him_.

 _Never_ in front of _him_.

Even now, she is trying to suppress her emotions, because she didn't have the necessary catalyst to unleash them.

With effort, Salem calmed herself down and decided not to make any kind of contact with Ozpin, lest she makes a unnecessary scene.

Suddenly, the vase that was near the screen started sliding towards the center of the stage.

 **"Now, you may ask yourselves - why the heck is this vase moving around? Well, the answer is really simple...uh, that kind of sounded better in my head to be honest. Might as well cut the dramatics and properly introduce myself."**

The form of the vase disappeared into yellow dust, and a figure appeared in it's place.

It was a man of a slim build who mostly wore regular civilian clothes, being a t-shirt, jeans and sneakers. However, two things did make him stand out.

The first one was a mask that had an eerie appearance of a human skull, with thick, black hair added on the top of the skull, forming it into, almost, a hood.

The second was his t-shirt. Or rather, the picture that was on the t-shirt...

"Is that me on your shirt?!" Ruby pointed at him. Indeed, his black t-shirt had a posing red silhouette of Ruby Rose, alongside the letters RWBY that were located beneath her.

"Yes it is! Got in on a sale - this kind of merch is pretty pricey, you know? Next question!" Before anybody could question what did he mean by 'merch', Ironwood dived in with his own question:

"Where are we exactly?"

"Glad you asked, Woody!" he said, which earned him an unamused expression from Ironwood, as well as few snickers from the resident blonde comedians.

He then started slowly walking around the screen, and spoke a bit louder than before:

"This...is limbo. A passage way where the flow of time and space convolutes and breaks apart, creating a cycle of destruction and creation of new timelines. As to your possible next question on how you got here in the first place,well..."

He stopped at the center of the stage, the previous spot where he's been already.

"I pulled your timeline from one such destruction. Simply speaking, I saved you from being reduced to nothingness."

"Can you prove that theory? I've never heard such malarkey before."

"Your existence here, as well as the presence of...certain individuals here, is proof enough. Go read a book, Watts." he responded, to which the former Atlas scientist looked at him and was ready to respond if it wasn't for the raised hand of Salem, a clear sign for him to silence himself.

But it did not mean the others were to be silenced as well.

"My Queen, can we trust his word-?" Tyrian spoke up before being interrupted by the said Queen.

"He is right."

It was a statement which surprised almost everyone in the room. It brought a concealed smile to his masked face too.

"Well, I'm...happy to hear that - means that I can go straight to the interesting part!"

The masked man cleared his throat first.

"Your next presumed question is probably - how did I manage to do that? Well, the answer is really simple - the reality you belong to isn't, hmm...how do I put it...? Ah yes! It isn't the main one."

"Wait, wait, wait - it isn't the _main one_? What's that supposed to mean?" Qrow was growing a bit suspicious now, and the masked man took notice of that.

"Alright, be prepared for some heavy bullsh-" The masked man was suddenly interrupted by the stern voice of Glynda Goodwitch.

"Language, please!"

"Ugh, fine _mom_. Be prepared for some heavy...manure, because there's a lot of it to process. So..."

"Your own timeline, which we, well...I'll call it a fragment , is one of many separate pieces of the main timeline that is run by the higher ups."

"Are...are they run by the Gods?"

The masked man turned to Ozpin, and took notice of his rather...peculiar tone.

"Nope. The twin jackasses aren't the all powerful's there - they too also have creators, with specific instructions on what to do."

"What kind of...instructions?"

The last part was said in a much calmer fashion, which the masked man knew that meant that Salem's patience was running thin. Sure, the Queen of Grimm was powerless now, like all the others, but he wanted to avoid any unnecessary drama now.

Besides, such drama was technically on the schedule, only much, much later.

"Just to create humanity, create Grimm and act like Gods. Nothing much, really."

Salem was calm...for now, at least.

"Question! What is our purpose here?" Penny spoke, her cheery, enthusiastic tone caught the masked man off guard.

"That's a pretty good question! You only need to stay here until I fix your timeline and you can go back home."

Mercury decided to speak up:

"And what do you get from that? Why... _help_ us?"

"Because I'm such a nice guy who loves you all! Well, not ALL of you, but still!"

The answer definitely did make some of the cast roll their eyes.

"How long do we have to wait until you fix...our timeline?"

The masked man turned to face Raven, and responded to her question:

"Eh, time is pretty relative and confusing here, so I can't exactly say how LONG it's gonna take. Probably pretty long."

"But...I understand how all of you got here. But what about...?"

"What about people such as yourself, Pyrrha? Well, I have to share a little secret."

The masked man approached closer to the audience, and spoke in a slow, clear way:

"Death cannot stop me, and you know why? Because I've gone beyond it. Death is nothing more than a mere nuisance, a simple setback. Death is not the end, but only a new beginning - be sure to remember that when I finish my work, Pyrrha Nikos."

Safe to say, it didn't bring any comfort to the former Huntress-in-training. And yet, it didn't bring the sense of hopelessness either.

Her train of thought was interrupted by the words of the very woman who killed her.

"So we just...aimlessly wait here?"

"I'm glad you asked that! So, in order to kill the boredom, I have this humongous screen behind me, from where we all will watch the different timelines of yourselves! Timelines where the roles you've been given could be different from your original ones, perhaps even opposite! Timelines with different settings, with some of them not even having the threat of Grimm looming around them! Aaaaand I should stop talking now, since I'm pretty sure I've made an annoying wall of text now."

"Wall of text? What are you even talk-?"

But the masked man didn't wait for Blake to finish her sentence, as he spread his arms open and was about to say...

"Now, the official gree-"

"Wait! What is your name?", before he got interrupted by Ruby. But instead of complaining about it, he simply responded:

"Well, I know all of your names, so I suppose it is fair for you to know my name too."

His open arm gesture was then replaced with a mocking shrug:

"It's Bob."

He then broke down into white smoke-like wisps that formed a sentence in front of the whole audience so that everybody would see it.

It read:

 **Welcome to the Dimensional Cinema! Hope you have a nice stay!**

 **P.S. Try not to kill each other during screen time and/or transitions!**

The whole room fell into silence...which was broke by a snickering Yang, who muffled out in between her laughs:

"Who...gives their kid...a n-name like...BOB?!"

Some of the members had to agree - it was pretty funny.

But the laughter soon ceased when the screen flashed brightly.

Who knows what revelations will be made clear to all of them?

* * *

 **A/N: Welp, that covers the introduction of this shit. The fic's premise...is drastically changed now. Some of the old reactions will be kept, albeit with some improvements, while others will be discarded as garbage they are. As to why - it's because I have much better ideas.**

 **EDIT: Nope, not doing any old reactions. Scrapping this shit up from the core, bois.**

 **This fic has a secret, a very obvious one at that.**

 **Pretty sure I've put enough clues for you to get it right away.**

 **SNEAK PEAK:**

"I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!"

 **\\[T]/**


	2. TOOK AN ARROW IN THE HEEL!

**Due to people not getting the memo about me not accepting requests, I took the liberty of instantly removing anonymous reviews that that have requests in them, while legitimate accounts will get reported for** **harassment - do not test my patience. I don't care who or what you are, you WILL get reported.  
**

 **Don't even think about spouting shitty excuses like _'oh sorry, I didn't see that'_. If you didn't see the notice I clearly & visibly put in the summary AND at the start of the story, then you should honestly do the whole planet a favor and end your life - if you can't notice something like my note, then what is it to say that you won't notice a stop sign on the traffic light? Will you try to justify the possible deaths you might've caused with _'oh sorry, I didn't see that'_?**

 **Yes, I know I'm exaggerating over nothing, but this kind of shit really grinds my gears. Don't try to tell me to chill about it - because you damn well know your reaction would be similar to mine if this were to happen to you.**

 **Please note that every other review that is NOT a request is welcome.**

 **Got that out of my system. Onto the review responses.**

 **Guest(Ch.1/Nov 26th): Your welcome. Here it is. Enjoy.**

 **NewtypeAuthor346: You've got my PM on what I think about that.**

 **TAWOGfan2000: With this chapter, now you'll know.**

 **REALLY15 : Little motherfuckers will be getting coal from me if they keep that kind of behavior.**

 **Hellbreaker: What can I say? Stupidity of the internet at it's finest. When you're behind a screen and a keyboard, then your brain has no limiters on how idiotic your behavior can be.**

 **MrMivx(Guest): IKR?**

 **CodeTalker69: Yes it is. The revelation gave me more freedom and a bit more stuff to work on. Frankly, the Vol.6 episode helped me to get a clearer direction of where this story would go.**

 **ElDragonRojoX: Worry not, life hacks will be here - even better than ever!**

 **ExPN00B: Thanks! And here you go.**

 **Snowballs(Guest): I have a new, bigger list of the shit I'll cover. And no, it won't - don't worry about it.**

 **With that out of the way, you may proceed on wasting a couple of minutes of your life on this chapter.**

* * *

 **Somewhere, on the plain deserts of Pandora, in the middle of fucking nowhere...**

 **A dead man in a blue jumpsuit was hanging from a large, metal claw on the border between an abandoned shanty town and an endless wasteland. It was probably once a part of a more complex structure that got destroyed by either human action, sand storms or time.**

 **The giant claw, not the dead man.**

 **The dead man was definitely a casualty of human action.**

 **Below the hanging corpse was a fully armored gunman, who was curiously looking at the dead man, wondering perhaps on how someone managed to hang the guy so up high.**

 **And why they'd bother to do that in the first place.**

 **A relaxing synth tune played in the background.**

 _ **"I don't know the dead man. Probably didn't deserve what he got."**_

Most of the audience members recognized the narrator's voice, since it clearly belonged to Pyrrha Nikos.

Pyrrha herself didn't really know what to expect from the...clip, as it started off kinda grim.

 _ **"Doesn't make him special though. All kinds of people die out here. The innocent..."**_

 **The gunman's attention dropped from the hanging corpse and they proceeded to stroll forward. A figure could be seen in a distance as the man moved away, sitting on top of a large rock.**

 **The figure was feminine, albeit a lot more muscular than normal, and she wielded a buzz axe in her right hand. She was wearing brown pants with metal gauntlets and iron parts to protect her hands, but the only clothing covering her torso was a white wrap around her breasts. A few pieces of white fur poked out from the iron pads.**

 **Said figure also had a mask and short, brilliant red hair tied in a small ponytail.**

 _ **"And the not so innocent."**_

 **She hit her buzz axe on the rock, which produced a clanking sound that wasn't loud enough to alert the nearby gunman.**

"That...that seems to be me?"

"You look kinda weird though." Yang spoke after Pyrrha, and then added,"I mean, why put armor on legs and arms and just cover your chest with some cloth?"

"Maybe it's hot there? The desert might not be much of an indication, but still..." Ren said.

Sun put both his arms behind his head and exclaimed:

"Probably. It does kinda remind me of Vacuo...well, not the weird construction and dead bodies, of course."

 **The view shifted on the front of Pyrrha, who noticed the armed man walking about and stopped fiddling with her buzz axe. The mask she wore had a belt extension that completely covered her right eye.**

The view of the half-naked Pyrrha made Jaune scratch his cheeks, so that he could cover the blush forming on his cheeks. The girl beside him had a winning smile on her face, albeit hidden from others.

"Pyrrha is ripped! Like, she probably has more muscles than even the big, angry guy over there!" Nora said, her words clearly pointing out Hazel as the comparison.

The man simply turned and passively gazed at the girl before continuing to watch the rest of the clip.

 _ **"If I'm lucky, he hasn't noticed me yet."**_

 **Pyrrha quietly came down from the rock and started slowly walking behind the gunman, who was completely oblivious to her presence**

 _ **"I wanna warn him. I want to tell him to run, to hide, to get out of sight so I won't have to kill him."**_

"Eh?! Why would she want to kill him?!"

"Honestly kiddo, the guy kinda has a _'murderous bandit'_ feel on him." Qrow responded to Ruby's question.

 _'Then again, the redhead doesn't look that different either...'_

 **Pyrrha threw her buzz axe in the air and almost grabbed it, but it clumsily fell from her grasp.**

 _ **"That's...what I want to say."**_

 **The view zooms on Pyrrha, who tilted her head. Her visible eye widened in excitement. The whole world around her was now colored in a bloody shade of red.**

Most of the White Seat audience got a bit worried at what would happen next, while Neo smiled - fully knowing what will happen next.

"This is gonna be good." Roman quietly spoke, and Neo simply nodded in agreement.

 _ **"What actually comes out of my mouth is..."**_

 **The relaxing music stopped as Pyrrha exclaimed:**

 **"I HAVE THE SHINIEST MEAT BICYCLE!"**

 **Pyrrha then dashed towards the man. The muscular girl jumped on the ledge of a small barricade that separated both of them, propelling her in the air as the screen zoomed on her masked face.**

 **The gunman was too late to notice her, and didn't even manage to bring his arms to protect himself, much less point the barrel of his gun at her.**

 **The girly scream of the gunman echoed as the screen turned black.**

 _ **"Heh, close enough."**_

A multitude of laughters and snickers echoed through the cinema, the main culprits being Mercury, Roman and Tyrian, with both the Xiao Long blondes to some degree.

The rest of the audience...wasn't quite as amused as they were.

Except for Nora, who started giggling a bit.

"I...I don't know what to say to that..." Winter muttered out, completely flabbergasted by the scene.

Ironwood only sighed at the Specialist's words. While some people may find Nikos' from the screen to be funny, he personally had some suspicions on her...symptoms.

"Well, uh, THAT was a thing." Ren spoke quietly. Pyrrha didn't know what to say to the scene. It was obvious that her mind and body are doing and speaking completely separate from one another. Still, it kinda made her at loss for words.

Jaune was unsure particularly how to feel about it.

Blake, on the other side, was reminded of her book she read in Beacon months ago - the man with two souls, one fighting the other for control. If it weren't her friend in the main role, she would've expressed her interest in this.

On the opposite end of the seats, Tyrian thought the whole scene to be poetically amusing. The sane side of the girl clearly wanted to do the right thing, while her not-so-sane side was doing whatever it wanted.

"Seriously - _'I have the shiniest meat bicycle'_? Who even says that?"

"It's still better than YOUR usual _'epic one-liners'_ , Mercury."

The said assassin put his hand on his chest with a faked expression of sadness.

"You wound me, Em."

"Suck it up then."

 **The screen lit up, showing Pyrrha casually strutting on some sort of high-tech train track.**

 **The inner-self sighed as she started:**

 _ **"This...is me."**_

 **"I'M READY FOR A SPINE TINGLER!"**

"Nora's for cracking legs while Pyrrha's for breaking backs? Seems like JNPR girls like to be rough!" Yang had the biggest shit eating grin on her face. Nora pouted and responded back with:

"Humph, pot calling the kettle back!"

"Nora, it's _'pot calling the kettle black'_."

"Same thing, Renny!"

 _ **"Yeah...great. Hey, remember back when we were sane?"**_

 **"SHE CAN TASTE THE BLOODY HATRED!"**

 _ **"...Guess not."**_

 **Pyrrha threw the buzz axe in the air, only this time - she managed to properly catch it. She also swung it in front of herself a few times for good measure.**

 _ **"You still can't hear me, can you? Little voice in your head, trying to remind you that we could go hours, days without screaming about our desire to ride bicycles made of meat? I don't even remember..."**_

 **A loud noise suddenly caught Pyrrha's attention as she stopped and looked around, only to notice an incoming train, which she barely dodged it by diving aside.**

 _'So she didn't always have the split personality disorder, if one can call it that, assuming her...sane side is to be trusted. Even in another world, Ms. Nikos still suffers in some way...'_ Ozpin sighed. He knew that...Bob's intentions weren't fully expressed to them, and couldn't help but wonder...

Where do his true goals lie?

Ozpin lived long enough to see hints of a hidden reason, and Bob definitely had one. Even wearing that skull-like mask couldn't conceal his body posture. The headmaster of Beacon also knew that Salem too was trying to read their new host.

Hopefully, he'll manage to get to a conclusion faster.

"How did she not hear that train earlier?!" Weiss asked, which prompted a snarky response coming from Mercury:

"Dunno, Princess. Maybe it has to do with voices talking in her head?"

Weiss just shot the assassin an annoyed glare.

On the other hand, Ozpin was a bit glad that the others weren't burdened with similar thoughts.

Not yet, at least.

 **Pyrrha lifted her masked face and saw a train station in front of her. And on that train station was a blonde boy who carried a futuristic gun (that also had several glowing blue spots on it) in his hands. He was wearing a yellow sleveless shirt, blue jeans and combat boots.**

 **The most peculiar thing about him was that he had spotted blood-red tattoos all over his left arm, which also went through his neck and a small part of his face.**

"I would've never guessed, but tattoos actually look decent on you, Jaune."

"Uh, thanks Ren."

"How about we actually get you a tattoo after this? You'd look even more fearless than you already are!"

"I ,ah , I'll think about it Nora."

Pyrrha had to admit, Jaune did look good with tattoos. Now, if only her mind wouldn't give her less-than-family friendly ideas on where those tattoos would be...

 _ **"Oh God. He's armed with a Schnee SMG. He's a Vault Hunter. He's a Magus warrior who can kill me with his brain."**_

 **Jaune turned around and noticed Pyrrha, who was slowly getting on her feet.**

 **"What the hell - is that a Psycho?" Jaune asked himself out loud.**

 _ **"He's the most beautiful man I have ever seen."**_

"HA! I KNEW IT!" Nora victoriously exclaimed, all with a fist pump in the air.

"Why am I not surprised?" Blake spoke, almost in a bored fashion.

Needless is to say how Pyrrha and Jaune felt about the whole scene, but then Oscar expressed his suspicion:

"He called her a Psycho...I'd guess that isn't a good thing, right?"

"Oh shush cute little Ozpin!" Nora immediately responded, despite the fact that the actual Ozpin was near them.

 _ **"Tell him he is as handsome as a thousand moonlights. Tell him you need his help. Tell him to rescue you and care for you, and whatever you do - do not scream the word 'poop' at the top of your lungs!"**_

Mercury snickered.

"She's gonna do it."

Weiss instantly protested.

"No she won't, you ruffian! She would never do something like-"

 **"I AM THE CONDUCTOR OF THE POOP TRAIN!"**

"...that."

While it was amusing to see the expressions of the people that personally knew Pyrrha Nikos, it was Nora who was visibly suffering the most, if the silent, desperate 'no' was an indication.

If she were a lesser woman, Pyrrha herself would've felt like she wanted the earth to open and swallow her.

Jaune was there with her, and that kinda helped. The blonde put a hand on her shoulder and casually said:

"It's no big deal! People say stuff like...that all the time! Well, not all the time, but you understand! I mean, what's the worst that could happen after that?"

 **Jaune jumped down the stars and started shooting at her.**

"Apparently, THAT could happen." Oobleck made an astute observation as he readjusted his glasses. Pyrrha & Nora looked defeated, while Jaune kinda tried to laugh the awkwardness while scratching the back of his head.

Ren decided to remain patient.

"But why start shooting? I mean, she just let a few words slip through, right?"

"In blondie's defense, Tai, the girl kinda looks like an insane serial killer, which she may be for all we know. No offense kiddo."

"None taken, _Mr. Branwen_."

Yang and Ruby let out a laugh at the last sentence. That didn't stop even with Qrow's gaze on them.

 **Pyrrha's head hung low in defeat and quickly moved in a zigzag pattern to avoid the shots before taking cover.**

 _ **"It's over idiot. You're gonna die here and now, and the last words out of your mouth would've been - 'poop train'."**_

 **Jaune's entire focus on shooting Pyrrha down made him unaware of a small group of slim-like bandits that appeared behind him and kept crawling towards the Magus.**

 _ **"Oh great, now the Rats are arriving."**_

 **The Rats now got a bit too close to Jaune for Pyrrha's liking.**

 _ **"Turn around Magus...Turn around or you're dead!"**_

Pyrrha held her breath at the sight, and hoped that her counterpart would try to warn Jaune of the danger.

 _ **"Tell him to look back, now!"**_

 **Pyrrha slightly poked from the cover and raised her buzz axe in the air, and said:**

 **"STRIP THE FLESH!" before ducking undercover.**

Jaune did notice how Pyrrha's fists were now clenched, but decided to not mention it. He also hoped that the Jaune on screen would be at least capable enough to notice the bandits on time.

 _ **"No! Listen to me..."**_

 **She repeated the same actions as before, but now she said:**

 **"SALT THE WOUND!"**

 _ **"Yeah, great, we'll salt all the wounds later. But right now, if you don't listen to me, he's gonna die and it's gonna be your fault!"**_

 **Pyrrha growled as she tried to fight off the voice, but ultimately managed to find the strength in her to get up and...**

 **"TURN AROUND, LADY KILLER!"**

 **She then threw her buzz axe that landed on the head of one of the Rats behind Jaune, who was about the stab the blonde Magus with a rusty knife.**

 **The Rat gurgled in a slightly comical fashion before Pyrrha jumped and landed on his shoulders before pulling the buzz axe from his head. The Rat collapsed flat, while Jaune simply looked at the corpse of his would-be attacker.**

 **The female Psycho proceeded to savagely butcher the rest of the Rats. She sliced two Rats through their chest cavities and plunged her axe into the head of the third Rat.**

 **"THAT'S THE STUFF!" She said as she kicked off the dead Rat and pulled her weapon from his head.**

 **She approached a quivering Rat near her and exclaimed:**

 **"I AM GOING TO PUT MY PAIN INTO YOUR SOUL!"**

 **The said Rat immediately fainted.**

"YEAH! GO FOR IT PYRRHA!"

Ren sighed at Nora's cheers. But there was nothing he could do to prevent her from acting like this.

And honestly - if he could, he wouldn't. Not in a million years.

Ozpin chuckled at the statement of the Pyrrha in front of them.

 _'Putting your pain inside someone's soul...funny way of implying something, is it not?'_

Yang, on the other hand, grinned and said:

"That's a good one liner there! Not sure if it would be usable for everyone, but still sounds awesome!"

Beside Nora and Yang, almost everyone else was a bit reserved at the sight of needless carnage that was followed with maniacal giggling.

It's probably also not worth mentioning that Tyrian was fully approving of everything going on there.

 **Pyrrha took a moment to look at the unconscious Rat, wondering if she should gut him open or simply chop his face in half. She didn't notice the other Rat on her left side, who jumped at her with a shiv in his hands.**

 **However, the Rat never managed to reach Pyrrha as he got suspended midair, rotating in a small, purple energy bubble.**

 **Her eye twitched at the sight as she turned around to see Jaune, who was slowly approaching her. He himself suspended the Rat with his Magus powers, as the tattoos across his body flared with a blue hue.**

 _'That power...very similar to my own magic, and yet - it feels so... alien. Otherworldly is perhaps a more precise description.'_ Salem thought, whilst paying no mind to other events, be it on-screen or off-screen.

Cinder scoffed at the idea that the Arc's powers in that world are something more than parlor tricks. After all, the power of a Maiden is something to be awed and feared ...even with the crippling weakness that came in the form of an annoying pest born with special eyes.

 **Pyrrha looked at him for a few seconds before her gaze returned upon the incapacitated Rat. The Rat squealed when she jumped up and brought her buzz axe down on him.**

Mercury giggled a bit and silently said:

"Heh, he went out with a squish."

Emerald simply rolled her eyes at her partners comment.

 **A slow piano tune started playing as Pyrrha pulled her weapon from the Rat's freshly decimated corpse.**

 _ **'Now say thank you. Tell him that because of him, we might actually one day be able to act like a normal person again.'**_

 **Pyrrha paused a bit...**

"What'll she say I wonder? Probably something insanely idiotic."

Ruby immediately countered Roman's opinion with:

"Nope! She'll say something cool, I'm sure of it!"

 **...before turning to Jaune and exclaimed:**

 **"I POWDERED MY NEVERMORE FOR THE RIBCAGE SLAUGHTER!"**

"I'd say you were...both right." Pyrrha admitted, while trying her best to conceal her embarrassment. Sure, she didn't have an idea on how to approach people like a, well - like a normal person due to her fame...

But the Pyrrha in the world on the screen was completely opposite of her, only not in the way she would've liked.

"Uh, Miss Salem?"

Everyone's attention now turned to Nora, who had her arm in the air, as if she was asking a question to a school teacher. She actually managed to fully catch Salem's attention.

"Is it possible to do that? I mean, I'm sure you'd be the right person to ask since you're, you know, the Queen of Grimm and all, so I really, REALLY wanted to know if it is possible to do that. Of course, not that the Grimm would consent to that kind of thing, I know THAT much. And it's not like I'd do that, well, not anytime soon at least, but I-"

"Child."

Salem's one word was all that it took to silence Nora's ramblings.

"Do not bother me with such...questions."

What came as a shock to everyone around was that Nora stuck her tongue out at Salem before pouting afterwards.

Safe to say, it kind of caught Salem off guard. By no means was she offended by such an action - she was simply mildly annoyed.

Hazel wouldn't openly admit, but he was impressed at the girl that managed to beat him back in Haven. And judging by the looks of it, the purple-eyed boy was quite close to her.

If that's the case, then Hazel would hold nothing but sympathy for the guy.

Back to the main topic...

 **Jaune simply looked at Pyrrha, as if he was examining her thoroughly.**

 **The smile on his face indicated that he no longer held any hostile intentions towards her.**

 _ **"Heh, close enough!"**_

 **The piano music stopped abruptly as the screen went to black.**

"Close enough indeed." Qrow spoke and let out a silent chuckle.

"While it could've gone better, it could've also gone a lot worse." Glynda added as she adjusted her glasses. Taiyang noticed the change in the screen and said:

"Hey, there's still more!"

 **The train was going full speed as it shifted it's wheels from the ground tracks to the tracks on the right.**

 **Time seemed to slow down as the scene captured Pyrrha, who was hanging on a ledge and giggling like a maniac. She swung her axe towards the screen, and the scene went straight to black...with the squishy sound of chopping meat.**

Neo's hands went behind the chair and pulled out a cardboard sign with a big 10 on it.

The rest of the audience was left confused at how the girl managed to do something like that.

 _'Well, it went pretty well. A few dozen of these and then...well, ain't gonna be a happy ending, unfortunately.'_ Bob thought as he stepped in front of his audience, ready to present yet another show for all of them.

* * *

 **Inspired by:** **"Krieg: A Meat Bicycle Built for Two" from Borderlands 2**

 **Funny thing - I have a RWBY/Borderlands 2 crossover in plan, with Jaune being and acting just like Krieg - AKA Krieg!Jaune.**

 **The reason why I didn't do this is because that fic would require for me to thoroughly search the subject of Dissociative Identity Disorder, something which Krieg has, examine Krieg as a character and see how the others would act around Krieg!Jaune - which I won't do now since I'm a bit busy with the My Hero Academia/Dark Souls 'Way of Hero Corona' story. Check it out on my profile!**

 **On to the currently present members of the cast and where they belong.**

 **White seats -**

 **1\. Pyrrha, 2. Jaune**

 **3\. Ren, 4. Nora, 5. Neptune, 6. Sun, 7. Ilia, 8. Ghira, 9. Kali**

 **10\. Oscar, 11. Ruby, 12. Weiss, 13. Blake, 14. Yang, 15. Penny, 16. Ironwood,**

 **17\. Ozpin, 18. Qrow, 19. Winter, 20. Port, 21. Oobleck, 22. Taiyang, 23. Glynda**

 **Grey seats -**

 **24\. Roman, 25. Neopolitan,**

 **26\. Raven**

 **Black seats -**

 **27\. Salem,**

 **28\. Watts, 29. Hazel, 30. Tyrian**

 **31\. Cinder, 32. Emerald, 33. Mercury, 34. Adam**

 **As for the story...**

 **It will have, in total, 25 chapters - not including the prologue and the epilogue. Yes, it is 5 chapters more than what I previously planned, so rejoice!**

 **SNEAK PEAK:**

"So, I'm thinking...I don't let these images appear on every holovid in the world, and you help out your new friend every now and then. What do you say?

...

"Clock's ticking...buddy."

...

"As if I had a choice. Now what...friend?"

"I'll be in touch. Boop!"

 **\\[T]/**


	3. Friendship through Blackmails & Boops

**Just wasted 95$ on a college application that the ontariocolleges delivered a little bit late.**

 **That bit being 3 months.**

 **And all that was non-refundable.**

 **But you aren't here to listen to me bitching about my private life - you're here for the shitshow!**

 **Before I go with the review section, I want to clarify one thing.**

 **The reason why I send PM's informing people that they've been reported for the shit they've done is so that I can keep proper track of them.**

 **Don't wanna get reported two times for something you've done only once, do you? Don't worry, I'm not that much of an asshole.**

 **Onto the review responses:**

 **thegoldenboy2188 : Can you read the summary?**

 **MrMivx(Guest) : Thank you - I'll accept that as a compliment!**

 **Wall Maria's time master : Then I hope you like this chapter. (^_^)**

 **Guest(Ch.1/Dec 13th) : If you're talking about you giving a request - apology not accepted.**

 **Midnight49 : Sorry to disappoint ya, but no Honor & Glory for this one. But there will be chapters with extreme doze of feelz, don't you worry.**

 **crawforddarius7: You know, you could always write one yourself instead wasting your time writing requests you know I'm not going to do. Just sayin'.**

 **Guest(Ch.2/Dec 13th) : Yep, you guessed right on the fourth try. Sometimes I'll aim towards RWBY characters portraying look-a-likes, and sometimes I won't.**

 **TheDistur6edGuy : Welp, at least that tells me you are mentally capable of proper reading.**

 **The stranger 2003 : It's true, I'm the one who's writing and calling the shots. And as the one who's writing, I say your request was denied. Get reported.**

 **Marele Solomonar : Ha ha, very funny. Thanks for the compliment tho.**

 **Last Step : YEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!**

 **Za Warudo(Guest) : Thank you! It's people like you that make me want to get my shit together and start actually writing!**

 **CodeTalker69 : Forgot to mention - asking about the material of the V1.0 Dimensional Cinema is completely OK, so don't worry. As for your question - no comment.**

 **Dio Brando(Guest) : What's up with JoJo folk coming here? Anyways, for your statement - I really couldn't give a shit about random people on the internet who are incapable of thinking for themselves.**

 **OnePunchPlayer : Because I believe in the Sturgeons Law, even though I hate it with every fiber of my being. Most reaction fics here are utter complicated garbage, and this story is an attempt to rise up from the trash heap to become something better.**

 **CR4Z1 : This is getting old...NO.**

 **Steelrain66 : Welcome to the 2019 Internet - land of the retarded, home of the imbeciles. Enjoy your stay!**

 **Guest(Ch.2/Dec 15th) : Unfortunately for you, Arkos will be a thing here. _AND YOU'RE GONNA LOVE IT_.**

 **Thedragonofdeath2 : That could be a great idea...if I actually gave a shit on what people want. Listen here, genius - I already said that everything is planned out in advance, so QUIT IT!**

 **Perseus12 : Wowsers? Who even says that? Ah well, here you go.**

 **HoovyScout : (-_-)**

 **Sergeant Snash : Before you continue, Bob isn't an SI, so he isn't the same guy from the deleted V1.0. Kudos to you for noticing that, tho.**

 **SnowballsFF : I couldn't recognize 99% of all the Youtubers on that rewind. It honestly served as one big ad for Fortnite, tbh. Pewds & crew, however, did a pretty good rewind on their own. Thanks for the compliments again, and as for Call of Duty - no comment.**

 **Ghost of Los Angeles : And I think you should send that to someone else.**

 **icedshadows : Flattery won't get you nowhere. Still, thanks!**

 **Guest(Ch.2/Jan 6th) : No comment.**

 **StrongGuy159 : Your wish has been heard loud and clear!**

 **LonelyRWBYGirl : No, because...**

 **I'm Already(Guest) : Tracer.**

 **Victor John Foxfire: No.**

 **The long awaited 3rd chapter with a few...surprises.**

 **Enjoy, I guess.**

* * *

"Gonna take a wild guess and say that you all had fun?"

Bob stepped out of the shadows of the theatre, surprising some of the members at how they noticed him only when he decided to appear before them.

Most of the younger members affirmatively replied with smiles on their faces, while some gave him thumbs up.

"It was amusing, to say that much." Watts replied. Bob clapped his hands and rubbed them together, saying:

"Good! Honestly, I'm surprised that you haven't decided to kill each other after I left!"

"We're not savages." Cinder replied. Bob let out a small chuckle that was hidden behind his skull-like mask.

" _Aheheh_...that's very, VERY rich, coming from you." The (former) Fall Maiden was unfazed by that comment. However, she wasn't just going to let that slide. If it weren't for the fact that her powers were gone, she'd be burning him alive for that.

"Care to elaborate on what you mean by that?"

"Oh well, if you don't count unnecessarily killing a student..."

"Nikos was a threat, and would have remained one if-"

"How about we mention how you made Emy here make a projection of little Ruby multiple times so that you get to kill her over and over again? Oh, and next time - don't interrupt me while I'm talking. It's very rude to do that to someone who gave back both your arm and your charming good looks. Thanks, _pumpkin_."

Bob tilted his head a bit to the right, as if he was mockingly staring at Cinder. She was clearly annoyed, and would probably smite Bob to the ground, if looks could kill.

Ruby felt a bit...disturbed by the revelation of what Cinder was doing in her free time. But even so, she gathered a small amount of courage and asked.

"Why?"

Her short question caught the attention of many, from all three seat groups.

"Ruby..." Yang muttered silently, the concern for her sister being obvious from her facial expression.

Cinder venomously glared at the cape-wearing girl, and responded:

"Because you violated me with those eyes of yours, stupid girl! You turned me into a cripple, a freak! If it weren't for the orders I've been given, I would've made sure you burned for even daring to use your underserved power on me!"

In all his life, Taiyang never met someone like the killer of his daughter's friend - someone who looked like her whole being was committed to the singular purpose of killing Ruby.

Funniest part was - he knew that Ruby didn't even meant to use her power, and it would've left him wondering how a power that was meant to destroy Grimm managed to damage a human being...if he cared in the first place.

Salem knew that Cinder failed her given task - she felt the clash between two Maiden powers, as she felt when one prevailed over the other. Her personality, if left unchecked and undisciplined, would become a detriment to her plans...and Salem would be eventually forced to deal with Cinder in her own way.

Both of them, like the others, were surprised by an enormous burst of laughter that came from their masked host.

Bob didn't stop his maniacal laughter for another few seconds before taking a breath.

"Oh heh heh...Salem, I gotta tell to you - you must've been desperate when you made the decision of taking this walking human trash with you!"

Bob proceeded to laugh again, only to a much lesser extent.

Cinder jumped from her seat with fury in her eyes as she walked towards Bob. Everybody from both the White and Black seats was now on high alert by the Fall Maiden's actions...

"You dare to talk about m-AGKK!"

Which were stopped by Bob himself, who pinned Cinder on the floor by choking her with his left hand, while his right was...

 _'W-What...what is that?'_

His entire right hand was covered with dark-red energy which eerily emanated from the skin.

Cinder, who was beneath him now, gritted her teeth in shock and rage, but she didn't try to physically ressist Bob's grip. She could barely twitch her body, albeit with great difficulty - as if all the strength she was left with suddenly...disappeared.

Every faunus in the room, except Tyrian, who had a glint of excitement on his face, was distressed as the right hand was releasing a very direct, very pure smell.

The smell...of death.

Emerald, Mercury and even Hazel quickly stood from their respective seats, but stopped when Bob turned his head towards them.

His glowing, red eyes gazed at the trio.

"A-a-ah. Move any further, and Cinderella here will end up as an eyeless, rotting corpse the moment my hand touches her pretty face." Bob mockingly addressed them. Mercury and Hazel stepped back a bit, but remained standing, while Emerald stood exactly where she stopped. The girl was clearly fearing for the life of her mistress...and couldn't bear the thought of losing her again.

All of the White seats were still surprised by the sudden development, but decided not to speak further.

Neo and Roman ducked forward a bit to listen to what Bob had to say, albeit Torchwick was a bit more cautious than his partner.

Salem wasn't quite worried about the health of her underling - she was, in fact, more interested in the power this... _Bob_ wielded in his hand.

Such power didn't possess the darkness of the Grimm, but it did possess some kind of darkness...a more natural one, if she tried to describe it properly. A very familiar one at that.

And yet, for the (eternal) life of her, she couldn't pin on what it truly is.

But she was sure of one thing - she could feel it in her very being. The power that hand had was so dark, so raw...that it was almost but perfect weapon against divine beings.

Like Gods, and immortal people.

Salem knew she should try and come up with a deal she could offer to her host, by the time their timeline was fixed.

"I think I told you a minute ago that it is rude to interrupt someone while they are speaking, didn't I?"

Bob's grip got tighter, and Cinder's rage was replaced with a struggle to gasp what little air she could get.

"You see - people will do the most unlikely of things when they witness their friend getting murdered before them. Such is the case of Ruby, who... well, didn't dish out more damage than you deserved, to be perfectly honest." Bob calmly spoke. He stood on his feet and lifted Cinder in the air, his grip on her throat not waning.

Ruby didn't speak out, didn't tell him to let go of Cinder, even if it was...well, Cinder. She didn't speak out, as the eerie red eyes gazed on the struggling Cinder, who was holding one hand on his arm while the other was trying to reach his face. Unsuccessfully, since they were not close enough.

The cape-wearing Huntress-in-training saw how angry her sister could be, but the sheer hatred that emanated from their host...

It scared her.

So she didn't speak.

"But you don't care about that, do you? No. Your only wish is to spread your _misery_ to others just so that you could feel better about yourself, you pompous wench."

His right hand reached out to Cinder's face, but didn't get close enough to touch it. But it was close enough for the Fall Maiden to feel weaker and weaker by the moment.

"I've seen your ilk, time and time again. Ignorant of everything except themselves, demanding everything like a child screaming for a new toy. You think that you are so special, that you deserve everything that is in the world, be it power, wealth...love."

At the last word Bob threw Cinder to her chair. She held her throat and coughed as she tried to breathe properly. Emerald immediately rushed to her side, but Cinder slapped her hand away, clearly sending a message that her help was unwanted.

The only thing Emerald could do was sit back.

"I've met people like you, Cinder. Parasites that feed off of everyone around, deceiving people into following their goals...letting entire worlds rot away for their own selfish desires, spreading poisonous lies to good people who are lost and don't know to look for their own way. All of them ended up beneath the sole of my boot, and it would be just as easy to add you to the list..."

Bob then looked at his right hand that was enveloped in dark-red energies, which disappeared the moment he shook it off.

"The reason I won't... is simple, really."

Bob approached a coughing Cinder a little closer, an action that made both Emerald and Mercury tense up.

"I am not you."

Bob held both hands behind his back as he strutted away from the Black seats.

Ozpin knew, from his little speech, that Bob must be someone like himself - a man who witnessed far too much for his own good.

At least, now he knew what kind of person their host is...along with his apparent distaste for the woman in Salem's inner circle.

Bob suddenly took a sharp turn towards everyone in the room and, in a formal tone, spoke:

"Forgive me for that little scene. Hope I didn't scare you, did I, Roman?"

Torchwick was a bit shocked at how Bob mentioned his name. He first looked at the host, and then glanced at Cinder, who managed to finally regain her composure - enough to start venomously glaring at their host.

And for some strange, unknown reason, he couldn't help but smile at the whole scene.

"Not really. We're good here." he responded with both him and Neo giving a thumbs up.

"Good! So, ready for the next one?"

"Yup!" Nora cheerfully responded, as if nothing happened.

Bob went to the left side of the cinema as the screen lit up.

 **The screen lit up to show...a simple, poorly lit room. Nothing special about it - in fact, you could describe as the most ordinary room of them all.**

 **Until a few pink pentagons formed up on the right, following with a few high-pitched clicking sounds.**

 **The group of pentagons quickly shifted and disappeared when a certain someone digitized themselves from invisibility.**

 **The certain someone being no one other than Nora Valkyrie, clad in a skin tight, high tech darkish pink bodysuit with a few white tiles on it - was it for fashion or did it serve any purpose?**

 **No one will ever know.**

 **"Hah! I thought this was supposed to be the most advanced security system on the planet." Nora spoke in an annoyed fashion as she scrolled and searched multiple holographic images and articles that appeared before her.**

 **"We don't have all day - hurry up..." a feminine voice spoke through the comlink. Nora simply ignored her and took a locked up file. With a wave of her hand, she unlocked it and saw 4 additional articles accompanied with images...which were visible only to Nora herself.**

 **"Enough! Do you have satellite?" a second, raspy feminine voice interrupted the first. Nora sighed and responded:**

 **"Ugh, of course!"**

"No offense Nora, but the calling of a techie kinda doesn't...suit your style."

"None taken, Yang!" she responded cheerfully, but silently muttered to herself:

"...Sounds cool, though."

 **Nora placed a bird's eye view satellite scan of the compound they were in. The scan shifted into black heat-detecting sight, revealing multiple red dots scattered through the map and two green dots that were on the far left of the map.**

 **The scene zoomed in to the location of the two green dots, who were standing near one of the entrances to the compound. The first figure was Ruby Rose, now dressed in a skin tight red & black combat outfit. Said outfit also had a few features...such as a skin revealing V-shaped cut on her chest.**

Ruby blushed, reasons being that her other self was dressed in a skimpy, revealing bodysuit...well, that and the fact that a lot of people were watching her.

Her as in the Ruby in the screen, not...

"How old's Red there? Just askin'."

"Older than you Roman. No jailbait flags here, don't worry." Bob responded, which prompted both Yang's to start laughing.

"Guys, what's a jailbait?"

Yang would usually try to act as a classic protective older sister...but she couldn't help but let that act go as she laughed even more.

 **Ruby was equipped with a modified version of Crescent Rose, as well as an infrared goggles on her forehead.**

 **Her companion, however, was completely dressed in black, the exception being metallic armbands and boots. The long, black hooded coat only revealed the armored torso and the shotgun shell bundle on the belt.**

 **She also had a mask that eerily resembled a dragon-like skull.**

"Ooh, who's the tall, dark and edgy there?" Yang asked.

Bob could only snort at Yang's remark.

 **"Are you certain that the target is on the site now?" Ruby asked, awaiting confirmation.**

 **The scene switched to Nora, who casually placed her legs on the table, while showing a video feed of Jacques Schnee, who is currently in an elevator accompanied by two armored bodyguards.**

 **"He's here, alright."**

"...Is this an attempted assassination on my father?" Weiss casually asked.

"Looks like it." Jaune responded.

"Uh, shouldn't you be a bit more...concerned?"

"It happens so often that it pretty much became a norm whenever he leaves the house. It kinda surprises me that you're the one to ask, Blake."

"You know that I'm not for killing every human who actively works against Faunus... unlike _someone_ I know."

Adam only yawned at that statement, which only irritated her even more.

 **The scene shifted then to both Ruby and Reaper, who were awaiting for Nora's go sign.**

 **"...Okay, you're in."**

 **As soon as the door opened, Ruby dashed past the guard, who was unable to respond in time as the Reaper sneaked up behind him in wraith form and twisted his neck.**

 **With that out of the way, both of them rushed upstairs and entered into the new section of the compound. Ruby used her grappling hook to propel herself to the top of a nearby crane, while Reaper dropped down and proceeded to the target in wraith form, enveloping the whole screen in black.**

 **The scene changed again to two of the compound workers, talking about the upcoming inspection. Neither of them noticed an invisible Nora from behind, who started hacking a nearby console.**

 **Meanwhile, Reaper went through the area like a ghost until he stopped at his first obstacle.**

 **"The door." Reaper ordered. The door started opening, but quickly closed shut when Reaper tried to go through it.**

 **"Nora..."**

 **Nora chuckled - she couldn't help but to pull a fast one on her colleague. She opened the door (without closing it) and a grunting Reaper ghosted through the small opening.**

Winter stepped in and said:

"That was really unprofessional and immature, to say the least!"

"I must disagree Mrs. Schnee - there is no such thing as not having time to pull an innocent fast one on your colleague!" Port's statement was followed by a chuckle.

 **A nearby turret picked up her movement, but was immediately switched offline, as well as the other turrets in Reaper's vicinity.**

 **"Turrets are down." Nora spoke through the com as Reaper hid behind a wall. She looked at the crane and spotted Ruby, who was preparing herself.**

 **The sniper activated her visor and steadied her rifle. She said:**

 **"I'm in position. Nora - time to target?"**

 **"Incoming...right about now!"**

 **Jacques Schnee arrived in the main area of the base, where several brand new Atlesian Paladin's stood - ready to be inspected and checked out.**

 **Jacques proceeded towards one of the mechs as soon as he exited the elevator. The master engineer rushed towards him and spoke:**

 **"Chairman Schnee! The new guidance systems - they will be the difference in destroying those terrorist animals!"**

 **"Tell me we're still on schedule. The Dust will not wait for us to be ready before they attack again!"**

 **The single mech pilot activated the humongous machine. He commanded it to stand up and show off the functioning particle cannon.**

"Now that's a robot!" Ruby noted.

 **Jacques felt proud, seeing the fruits of his labour. He slowly walked towards it, to simply touch his work.**

 **"Our first new mechs in a decade...This will ensure the future of Atlas."**

Ironwood was feeling a bit awkward - seeing how Jacques here wasn't acting as a stick-in-the-ass corporate who only cared about money.

He only wished that the head of the SDC shared the same view on Atlas as him and his counterpart here.

 **Meanwhile, Ruby's rifle identified Jacques Schnee as a target, his heat signature differentiating from others. Her sights zoomed in closer and closer as they were trained on the gap of the door, and waited for Jacques to poke his head out so that she could take the shot.**

 **"Just a little bit further..." Ruby whispered to herself as she steadied her trigger finger, ready to end the life of the chairman...**

 **However, an alarm sounded off through the entire facility, surprising both Jacques and his would-be-assassin.**

"Seen it coming miles away - these things are always so predictable." Roman snarked. Emerald, however, didn't share his view on the matter.

 _'That alarm...the timing of it can't be a mere coincidence.'_ She thought.

 **"Sir, we need to move now!" one of the bodyguards spoke as he took him under his wing and guided him towards the elevator.**

 **"What?" Ruby spoke to herself, but the sudden development didn't stop her from aiming and taking the shot.**

 **She missed by an inch, the bullet clipping the collar of Jacques jacket.**

The Ruby in the cinema let out a breath of relief - while she prided herself to be a good marksman, she didn't want to include her partner's dad in her killstreak.

No matter how much of a jerk he was.

 **The sniper grunted at the failed shot. Reaper calmly spoke to her:**

 **"Rose, hold the perimeter - we'll take over."**

 **Reaper then wraithed through the rapidly closing door and managed to enter the locked compound through a small gap.**

 **The dark mist formed two shotgun bracers in her hands and she didn't waste no time with shooting Atlas forces.**

"Blondie is the Edgy McEdgelord here? Didn't think you'd stoop so low."

"Like you're the one to talk, mister Metal-for-legs. 'Ah, look at me - a girl just punched me on my prosthetic leg, buhuhuh'!"

Both Yang and Mercury started pouting at each other.

"I gotta admit Yang - black doesn't suit you at all."

"Bob! Whose side are you?!"

"Well, now that you're asking..."

Bob started removing his Ruby-silhouette tee, which showed that he actually has an another shirt beneath it.

This one had a clear picture of Roman Torchwick offering a cone of Neopolitan flavored ice-cream with the captions:

 **WE HAVE FREE ICE CREAM**

Both parties had a very dissatisfied look on their faces, while both Roman and Neo were somewhat enthusiastically happy.

After all, you don't get to be in an unknown entity's favor who actually doesn't want to kill you when you outlived your usefulness.

 **After decimating the Atlas soldiers, Reaper took aim at the elevator Jacques was currently riding and fired.**

 **The shot, however, was caught by the mech that blocked it with the barrier on it's arm. The pilot didn't give the assassin time to react as it swatted her across the room, losing her weapons midair.**

 **She got up, albeit obviously injured, and pulled out a new pair of shotgun bracers and spoke through the com.**

"Shouldn't my Semblance already kick in? I mean, that was a pretty strong hit she took." Yang asked, to which Bob promptly responded:

"While you and she may be the same person, her powers and your powers may not always be the same exact thing - if you haven't caught on her ability to turn into smoke."

"Wait just a moment there. You said that everyone we watch is an alternate version of ourselves."

"I didn't say that, Raven. What I said was that you're going to watch different timelines of yourselves - not alternate versions of yourselves. These people that you're going to watch - don't think about them as if you have a few similarities with them. Treat them as if you're looking at yourself in the mirror - ultimately, you are them...and they are you."

"Sooo...you're saying the Champ here has violent, murderous tendencies and is subconsciously a psycho deep down?" Roman noted, to which Pyrrha gave the criminal a very unamused look.

"Says the guy who mashed all the buttons on an Atlesian warship just to see what each of the said buttons does."

"Hmph, touche."

 **"Nora, I'm cut off - it's on you now!"**

 **"I'm all over it!"**

 **Nora dashed around the centre and wall-climbed her way to the platform. She saw how fast the elevator was going(and the fact that Jacques noticed her), so she went towards the nearest elevator pad and hacked it before going on a ride.**

 _'An ability to hack any electronic-based components sounds...interesting and useful. Perhaps I'll look into that after this whole affair.'_ Watts thought to himself.

 **When she got to the highest point of it, she jumped to the metal catwalk in front of her...and barely managed to grab the handle.**

 **Her and Jacquess eyes met, the latter being one of shock and fear while the former was accompanied by a smirk.**

 **She ran on the parallel pathway to her target until two soldiers got in her way. She threw a small triangular device at their feet, and the soldiers instinctively covered their eyes, assuming it was a flashbang.**

 **But the device only silently beeped, and as soon as the soldiers realized that - Nora has already gunned them down with her machine pistol.**

 **"All mechs fire on catwalk, level 3!"**

 **The mech pilot heard the bodyguard's command and shot the laser beam two times, cutting down the part where Nora was running on.**

 **While Nora was falling to her presumed death, Reaper's voice came through:**

 **"Nora - status?!"**

 **"I'm working on it!"**

"Yeah! Give her - I mean, me a break!" Nora argued.

 **Nora improvised, and hacked a severed arm of a Titan that managed to catch her, it's fingers serving as a bulletproof shield from the incoming fire of the Atlas soldiers.**

 **The arm then propelled Nora into the air, and landed on the catwalk again.**

 **Nora gave the soldiers a smirk before completely vanishing out of sight.**

 **"Where did she go?!"**

 **"Find her!"**

"Hands-on hacking AND invisibility? That's a...that doesn't sound like you, to be honest. No offense."

"None taken, fearless leader! Thanks for reminding me!"

 **The soldiers started a frantic search as Jacques and his bodyguards entered the office, which was then quickly brought into heavy lockdown. The windows and the doors were sealed shut, and a backup generator activated, providing light for the office.**

 **Both the chairman and his bodyguards breathed and relaxed, assuming that danger was no longer imminent.**

 **The sudden appearance of Nora between the guards proved them all wrong. One of them tried to shoot her, but the hacker grabbed his gun, spoiling his aim and shooting his colleague instead. She then took the rifle from the guard's hands and shot him with it. Nora dropped the rifle and pointed her pistol at Jacquess head.**

 **All that happened in a matter of seconds.**

"That was...very impressive." Ren noted.

A statement which made Nora's already weird, giggity smile a lot wider.

"Nora is amazing! I mean, b-both of you are amazing in their own rights, it's-nevermind." Ruby muttered out in excitement.

 **"Jacques Schnee."**

 **The older man gulped, fearfully expecting a bullet as he stared down the barrel of Nora's pistol. He was sure that he would die by her hands, judging by the look on her face...**

 **"Hah!"**

 **Suddenly, Nora lifted her pistol and rested it on her shoulder.**

 **"You have no idea what it took for me to make this meeting happen."**

Most of the audience was surprised at the sudden turn of events - not everyone.

"Of course she wouldn't kill him, knew it all along."

"How would you know that, Black?" Yang snidely asked.

"I'd say being a son of an assassin jackoff would teach you a few things about how people act, but I'll stick with the fact that she'd pulled the trigger right away without the dramatic pause."

"Language!"

"Whatever." Mercury scoffed at Ruby's remark.

 **Knocks on the locked door could be heard, voices of soldiers trying to reach out to their boss.**

 **"Relax, I'm not going to kill you! I mean...I'm the one who set off the alarms."**

 _'Well, her hacking the turret commands and being within the arms-reach of the console did made me suspicious when the alarm went off at the most convenient of times.'_ Ironwood thought.

 **"Nora, do you have the target-"**

 **The hacker simply ignored it and pulled out the com from her ear.**

 **"Okay, listen. I'm here to make a friend. I'll show you something I've found..."**

 **Nora pulled a cube of data and expanded it, showing a photo of Jacques...and one of the White Fang Lieutenants giving him a purified Dust core, alongside some other hardware.**

"What?"

The short question came from none other than Adam Taurus himself. Rightfully so - he may've been reluctant to work with the likes of Fall and Torchwick, he knew that the White Fang, his or Sienna's, would never work with a Schnee.

So how did this happen?

Blake noticed her ex-lover's shock - frankly, she couldn't blame him. The very idea of the White Fang working with Jacquess Schnee by supplying weapon tech to him that is later used to fight them...

 _'Perhaps there is something deeper beneath those photos.'_

Roman snickered and said:

"Well, that's a new one on me. Should we expect some things like these in the future?"

Bob smiled behind his mask, and simply responded with:

"No comment."

 **The chairman's face shifted from being afraid for his life to being very, very unpleasantly surprised at the discovery of his actions.**

 **"Tell me, what would happen if the people of Atlas learned that their** _ **'Defender against the Fang'**_ **was actually getting his tech from the enemy?"**

 **Nora took a picture from his desk - a picture of him, his wife and his children, all genuinely smiling at the photographer who took it. She placed it into his hands, and spoke:**

 **"What would it do to the future of Atlas, hm?"**

'Odd...that photo gives a vastly different feeling of us as a family. Is father's only sin working with the enemy, while not involving us?' Winter thought, putting a hand on her chin.

Weiss felt awkward at the moment - seeing Winter, Whitley...even her mother smiling on that image. Perhaps Jacques in that timeline was actually a good father and husband...

She immediately repressed any hint of jealousy towards her self in that timeline - after all,

 **Jacques expression then turned into one of silent, suppressed anger.**

 **"What...do you want?" he forced the words through his teeth.**

 **"The most powerful man in Atlas? I always wanted a friend like that!"**

"Not really sure that blackmail is the best way of making friends. Just, uh, saying." Jaune dully noted.

 **Jacques noticed the concerned voices of the soldiers from the door, before setting his eyes on his blackmailer.**

 **"So I was thinking...I don't let these images appear on every holovid in the world, and you help out your new friend every now and then. What do you say?"**

 **The soldiers managed to force out a small part of the door, while Nora was waving the compromising photos in front of Jacquess' face.**

 **"Clock's ticking...buddy."**

 **Jacques glanced at the photo of his family. He sighed, and answered:**

 **"As if I had the choice. Now what...friend?"**

 **"I'll be in touch."**

 **Nora got a little closer and poked the top of his nose.**

 **"Boop!"**

"Yep, that's me alright!" Nora said as she pointed her finger at the screen.

"I thought we already came to that conclusion..." Sun whispered out, but was ignored.

 **With a sultry hand-wave, Nora vanished once more before the soldiers could arrive.**

 **The triangular device on the catwalk shone brighter...and out from it came Nora.**

 **The hacker put the com back in her ear and said:**

 **"Mission failed, target has escaped."**

 **Meanwhile, a torn up mech and it's dead pilot lay behind a growling Reaper, who threw her shotgun bracers away and spoke:**

 **"Get back to the ship."**

 **Ruby zoomed in on Reaper who was exiting the compound hall. She understood what happened, and jumped down from the crane.**

 **On the other hand, Nora felt quite satisfied with herself. She turned towards the screen and smiled before placing her finger in the center.**

 **"Boop!"**

 **And like that, the screen shut down.**

...

"Did she know we were watching her?!" Weiss asked, almost sounding frantic.

Bob simply shrugged, and responded:

"Well, the only one who knows the answer is right here in this room."

Nora of course, knew the answer.

But she didn't bother to voice her response as she innocently scratched her cheek.

* * *

 **Inspired by: "Infiltration" from Overwatch**

 **Nobody did this particular one, so might as well be the first.**

 **Boy oh boy, things have almost escalated at the start, haven't they?**

 **This chapter in particular revealed some...crucial information that will be very important in the future chapters. Best hang on to it!**

 **SNEAK PEAK :**

"My name is Weiss. I beg of you, remember my name. For I may not myself..."

 **\\[T]/**


	4. Loss of Self

**Got accepted into college - Video Production at Durnham BOIIIIIIS!**

 **Does that mean I'm gonna quit writing fanfics because of that?**

 **Fuck no.**

 **Speaking of writing, it took a lot of editing to get this whole chapter right. If you find a legitimate mistake in the chapter, I will go to the nearest church and** **flagellate meself.**

 **The other reason why I didn't write is because I was preoccupied with playing Apex Legends. Might get an idea in the future...**

 **I can see that we've been progressing, since none of the new reviews were requests!**

 **Took ya long enough to get it, you morons.**

 **Now, on to the review responses:**

 **Pick your Poison RWBY or MHA** **: No, it's all mine. MINE!**

 **Lord of Memory : Many thanks for the compliments! And who the fuck is Simon the ice king?**

 **LonelyRWBYGirl : Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand you called it wrong gurl.**

 **StrongGuy159 : Continued!**

 **the Composcreator : No you can't. Bugger someone else.**

 **Reader(Guest) : Completely missed the theme there buddy. I do appreciate the effort tho.**

 **Snowballs FF : Good question!**

 **No, I won't calibrate the audience's memories for them to know the Vol.6 events. Bob definitely knows what's gonna happen - and he's probably gonna act on it accordingly.**

 **As for Penny and Neo, trust me - they'll have their time to shine.**

 **Man, being in religious institutions makes you wish for someone to shoot you dead, right?**

 **icedshadows : It took me awhile, but I'm now having fun writing this story. Also, seriously guys - is the ice king the dude from Adventure Times or Warcraft?**

 **Marele Solomonar : Oh they will be. Ho ho ho, they will be!**

 **CR4Z1 : *Lucio Boop***

 **YEdenwoods : Thanks!**

 **Sephyrum : Don't forget to blow it first.**

 **Wall Maria's time master : You're gonna see a lot more unused stuff for reactions in the future. And thanks!**

 **FRANZAKERS : I do try to keep Bob simple. A lot of reaction fics here are ruined because the authors don't think that adding numerous OC's in a reaction fic is actually not good and completely unnecessary. With that being said - the only OC here will be Bob, I assure you.**

 **Guest(Feb 12th) : Well you're fun at any kind of social gatherings, are ya?**

 **4th chapter, with eXXXtra thickness.**

 ***Intense tongue flapping***

* * *

"...Weiss?"

"Yes, Ruby?"

"You aren't...upset that I tried to kill your dad, right?"

Weiss sighed. Even though logically, Ruby...their Ruby, shouldn't feel accountable for the actions of a totally different Ruby who tried to kill her father - well, the other one, not her own.

"Ruby, no. Whatever it may happen in the future, know that I know that you yourself would never do such a thing. So stop apologizing for something that isn't even your fault!"

The cape-wearing Huntress breathed out in relief, but a small sense of guilt still roamed around her mind.

On the sidenote, Nora was counting the things she could do if she ever learned how to hack like her counterpart.

Safe to say - Nora's mind was a very wild, dangerous place, and once you're in it...there is no going back.

Ren did that and just rolled with it.

"Man, you got some pretty interesting timelines! What else you got for us?" Yang grinned, catching Bob's attention.

"Eager are we? Be careful what you wish for...you never know what you'll get in the end."

The host with the skull mask moved towards the corner and sat on the floor, leaving a confused Yang and her wary father who caught wind of his words.

Yet Tai decided not to raise the question, since the screen turned on the moment Bob sat down.

 **The No Man's Wharf.**

 **In a middle of a narrow bridge an armor-clad knight cut through the airborne dog that was trying to plunge it's teeth into him.**

Blake managed to contain herself from jumping out of her own skin, while her partner commented:

"That dog...doesn't quite look normal."

"Good to see that you can still point out the obvious, Yang."

"Oh, you wound me Ice Queen." Yang responded in a fake-hurtful tone.

 **The dog's body became lifeless when it touched the ground, then slipped from the edge and sank into the deep waters below the rock-solid ground.**

 **The once pirate-infested port was now a death trap filled with insane undead and other...things that were wary to step out in the light of the few torches that decorated the port.**

 **The knight sidestepped a bit when he approached the ruined row of houses - an action which proved wise, as a pair undead pirates vaulted from the ruins, perhaps in hope of ambushing an unsuspecting victim.**

"The sheer magnitude of ruin can almost be compared to that of the town of Mountain Glenn, but with no Grimm yet seen!" Oobleck spoke curiously.

"There's no Grimm in that world. Can't say it's any much better tho." Bob casually responded.

 **Even when they have fully lost their minds, undead tend to stick to the habits they developed when they were one of the living.**

 **The undead, rotting pirates, even with strength in numbers, were no match for the knight, as he swiftly cut down the first one. The second one raised his twin axes, but he never managed to score a hit as his attack was parried.**

 **The pirate lost his balance and fell onto the ground, which prompted the knight to plunge his sword through him, ending his undead life.**

"Are we seeing the Fearless leader here in action?"

Nora's enthusiastic question was shot down by the cinema host, who simply replied with:

"Nope."

No one saw Pyrrha's pouting at the response.

 **The knight simply brushed off the blood from his armor. A blue, decorated shirt with golden linings in the middle concealed hardened, quality chainmail. It was held by a large steel shoulder pad on his left arm and a small, brown scarf.**

 **While his left arm was concealed completely in steel, his right arm only had a small steel pad and a hardened leather gauntlet - no doubt emphasizing on which arm should hold the sword and shield.**

"I must admit, whoever this person is - it certainly has a very practical mindset. No doubt that it is what you need to survive there." Watts commented.

Ruby, on the other side, gently whispered to herself:

"...Combat skirts can be practical..."

 **The knight scouted the ruins, double-checking for any enemies that could be lurking, and breathed out in relaxation that there were none.**

 **That did not mean he could give himself the luxury of letting his guard down.**

 **He abandoned the wrecked houses and went up, climbing the rock stairs, and noticed light coming from an intact house on his far left.**

 **He hoped that the current inhabitants would be friendly, as he knew that only Hollows and predators favor the dark. Yet, he couldn't deny the comfort that the dark usually give to him when he was all alone...**

 **He pushed those thoughts aside (for now) as he approached the house.**

 **The entire house was well lit with torches, and as the knight climbed upstairs, his suspicions of the house not being abandoned like the rest were proved to be right.**

 **Leaning on the wall to the far side was a person, clad in a steel blue vest that covered the white shirt underneath, brown pants, gloves and boots. The person's hat and mask were the accessories that stood out the most - the hat sported a tall, colored feather while the steel mask resembled a visage of a bearded man.**

 **The knight would've thought the person was a man if he hadn't taken a closer look at the long, silver-white hair that completely covered the sides and the back of the head - perfectly concealing someone's face, and with that, their identity.**

"Nice getup there, Princess - very stylish. Don't understand what's with the mask, but still - pretty good overall!" Roman said, surprisingly with none of his usually sass or sarcasm.

Even Neo showed that she approves the outfit with a thumbs up and a simple smile.

 **"What is it?"**

 **He couldn't reply back, since the woman continued without pause:**

 **"I don't know you, and you don't know me. Things are better that way." a woman's voice spoke in a slightly annoyed manner.**

"That...actually went better than I expected." Blake noted.

"Well, heh, at least the guy didn't explode or something, right?" Ruby sheepishly asked.

 **The knight concluded that the inhabitant was a woman, and judging by the uniquely shaped sword on her hip - a knight, like himself. A female knight who wasn't, at first glance, thrilled by the aspect of company.**

 **But the knight was stubborn, as he approached her closer. He saw the woman slightly tensing up, but she didn't lay her hand on her sword.**

 **It was good news to the knight, as it was a sign that she didn't see him as a threat.**

 **The knight sat down and leaned on the wall beside her. He didn't speak up, but he did started to gawk at her like a curious child - something he was well aware of, yet he continued doing so anyway.**

"Alright, are you...sure that that guy isn't me?"

"It's actually nice to see you're very self-aware, but again - this knight ain't you, chief." Bob responded to Jaune. The blonde didn't mind that at all.

 **The woman sighed at first, but she immediately chuckled in the next moment. A smile formed behind the knight's helmet. Her mask turned to him, and she spoke:**

 **"You are an odd one. Normally people keep a safe distance when they see this mask. But you..."**

 **She paused for a bit. The knight fiddled to get more comfortable.**

 **"I am called Weiss. From the land of Mirrah, to the far north, across the mountains. They say that Drangleic brims with powerful souls, so I came to claim my share."**

"Ye olde Vytalian, heh. They are, like, in ancient times or what?" Sun pointed out, which prompted Weiss to respond:

"I think that should've been cleared already, seeing that the person next to...me wears armor."

"Pretty sure that's, what's his name - Cardin? I think he also wears metal armor similar to that dude's over there."

"You have a point there, Vasilias."

On the other hand, Oobleck was more interested in the names of the lands Weiss spoke.

 _'Neither 'Mirrah' nor 'Drangleic' are names that were ever mentioned nor recorded in any history books concerning Remnant! What a pity, to not get a chance to explore those lands - so much left uncovered...'_

 **Weiss' gaze turned towards the window.**

 **"But what a strange place...Even the rumors did not prepare me."**

 **The knight stood up, and looked at the same direction where Weiss was looking.**

 **He turned to her and simply shrugged at her statement, which earned him another chuckle.**

 **"You are an odd one, indeed. I've always made a point of avoiding people. While you've made a point of engaging me."**

 **She paused for a bit, as if she was thinking over a decision. She spoke up:**

 **"I can see that you are mid-journey. If you require assistance, I will help you. For I come from Mirrah, a land of knights. My sword is always ready. Do not hesitate to call upon me."**

 **The knight respectfully bowed at her, in thanks for her offering. He exited the house, but stopped when he heard Weiss' muffled words that were accompanied with a somber chuckle.**

 **"...Whatever happens, I won't be missed..."**

The last sentence caught the attention of R(W)BY as they took quick glances to both the Weiss on the screen and Weiss with them.

Weiss, on the other hand, was surprised at her counterpart's pessimism.

 _'I thought Blake was supposed to be like all...moody!'_ she thought, but refrained from speaking that outloud.

 **And so the knight made a silent vow to himself, one that he will be sure to keep it, be it the end of the world, or something entirely else.**

 **The scene transitioned in a wave of wispy smoke and was presenting a new area...**

* * *

 **The Lost Bastille, once a prison for the unforgivable and undesirable, now one of the many places that house maddened undead, animated pieces of armor, and one lost sinner...**

 **The knight, after fighting off some dogs(again), barely noticed the barrel rolling down the stairs, and managed to step aside in the nick of time. Had he failed, well...**

 **A large, explosion that made a gaping hole in the wall behind him made him gulp.**

"Heh, you could say..."

"Yang, there will be consequences."

"That he barrel-y dodged that, amirite?"

"True, since 'cause of the stairs he couldn't do a barrel-roll and get away."

"BOB!"

 **He saw the one responsible for the attack - a particularly large man covered head to toe in bandages who wore an oversized fur coat. He also had a quite a big polearm by his side, which he immediately tried putting into use by cutting the knight in half.**

 **The knight merely sidestepped again, and quickly snuck behind him. The knight then kicked the undead jailer in his back, forcing the larger opponent on his knees, before splitting his head with an axe.**

"FATALITY!"

The confused audience stared at Bob, who simply scratched his neck as he responded:

"Force of habit, I apologize."

 **The jailer lifelessly fell down the rock stairs, and the knight moved towards the tower in front of his view.**

 **It didn't take him long to reach the entrance, when he was greeted by a familiar sight.**

 **"Oh, I thought it might be you."**

 **The knight's wide smile was hidden behind his helmet, but nevertheless - it almost radiated from him, like a wave of unknown positive energy.**

 **"You haven't changed a bit, have you? Heh heh."**

 **Weiss looked up at the missing ceiling of the tower, and spoke:**

 **"The longer I am here, the more madness I discover. A wretched place, indeed, but not without traces of its former glory. What could have caused such degradation?"**

 **The knight shrugged, as he himself did not know what befell the Lost Bastille for it to become what it is now.**

 **Weiss' head jolted to the knight as she scoured her pockets.**

 **"Ah, yes, I have not thanked you for humouring me the other day. This is for you."**

 **The small thing she pulled out was a sprite-shaped figure made out of many tiny, black wires.**

 **"Of course, I've no idea what it is. Heh heh." She chuckled.**

 **Weiss was then surprised when the knight refused her gift, as he folded the fingers of her offering hand, as if he wants to tell her to keep it for herself.**

 **"Oh, you don't have a need for gifts? Heh, then we share alikeness, you and I."**

 **She put the Human Effigy back in her pocket and folded her arms.**

 **"Our land of Mirrah is surrounded by enemies, and constantly at war. There is only one way up in Mirrah - join the Order, and prove yourself in battle. My family had little fortune, and no name. I had to carve out a piece of the world for myself with two things: my sword, and my loyalty to my Lord."**

The sentence got James' attention - it was funny to him to hear that the Schnee name didn't have any weight in the other world, seeing how Jacques flaunts the name everywhere, the kicker being that it wasn't even his own name to begin with.

Both Winter and Weiss were a bit pleasantly surprised upon hearing that - perhaps the Schnee name could be a synonym for something good in the other world.

 **"I was raised to wield a sword from birth. Life was hard, but I never gave it a second thought. I had swift success on the battlefield, and quickly attained respectable stature. And then I… And then I came here…to…" Weiss muttered silently, and put her hand on her forehead - as if she was trying to remember.**

 **The knight's head popped up in worry as he got closer to Weiss.**

 **"No, it's not...important...for now." She reassured him, but it didn't convince him. Not one bit.**

 _'Well, if that's not a sign that she is hiding something, then I don't know what that is.'_ Jaune thought.

 **Weiss, however, continued talking:**

 **"Have you heard of the Undead? These poor souls affected by the curse? An Undead gradually loses his humanity, until his wits degrade completely. Finally, he turns Hollow, and preys upon others. And a Hollow can never be human again."**

"That's horrible!" Penny stated worryingly.

The master of Grimm couldn't help but reflect on her own...problem.

With each and every death, Ozma transfers in a new unfortunate body to parasite from, while she was effectively immortal. Yet, immortality came with a heavy price - which was one on her sanity.

 _'I wonder...'_

 **The knight pulled out the same wire-made figure Weiss wanted to gift him, and slowly fondled it in his hands as he was listening to her story.**

 **"One can skirt this wicked fate only with the help of the souls found here. Assuming, of course, that the legends are true. I can only hope…that they are."**

 **And with the last word, Weiss removed the mask, showing a face that would've been of remarkable beauty...if it weren't for the circle of rotten flesh stained on her eye, which showed where her curse was. An unfortunate thing, it was.**

"Ug-Oh, that's...that's just..."

"Nasty, Ruby - you can say it, I don't really mind it."

Mercury decided to step in with something that went like this:

"Now you know she won't give you the stink eye."

A short silence passed(alongside a deathgaze sent by Winter Schnee) before none other than Weiss started snorting. She then said:

"I have to admit - that was actually a good one."

"Thank you."

"I'm still the one who makes better jokes than anyone here!"

"Not something you should be proud of, Yang."

"Alright, now that was just hurtful."

"You'll survive."

 **"I'm sorry…to burden you with talk of my fate. I suppose I've grown weary these days."**

 **The knight responded by placing a hand on her shoulder and lightly tapping it, and slowly nodded once - his way of showing that he didn't mind her little speech at all.**

 **Weiss' face formed a light smile, and said:**

 **"Thank you, then...for listening to me."**

"Ay, falling for the knight in cool armor, are we Weissy?" Nora teased.

Weiss calmly responded:

"Please, I'm not the one to instantly fall for men just for giving me some of their time. And besides - he's yet to utter a single word!"

"Perhaps he's mute?" Roman asked, his question briefly catching Neo's attention before she continued watching.

 **The knight then went towards the exit, but suddenly stopped at the door. He raised his fist up, showing that silent resolve might just be the only thing you need to overcome obstacles, whatever those may be.**

* * *

 **With the passing of time, the knight now found himself in the Earthen Peak windmill. It only took a few moments for the knight to truly despise the place. If it were to him to describe it in one sentence, he would describe it as 'poison, poison and more gods-damned poison'.**

"That's...a lot of poison." Illia commented.

"Yeah...pretty good place for Raven, actually." Bob responded, which prompted a question from Raven who was giving him a 'careful-what-you-say-next' look:

"How so?"

"Eh, your toxicity fits there perfectly."

While Raven shot Bob a very unamused look, both 'Yangs smiled, with the older one giving Bob an 'okay' hand gesture.

 **The knight dodged an oncoming fireball from the devilish Desert Sorceress whilst trying not to fall in the deep poisonous water in the centre of the room.**

 **The knight couldn't reach the foe with his sword, so he settled down with a makeshift sorcery staff and fired several great soul arrows.**

 **The Sorceress was stunned by each consecutive arrow before crying out her dying breath as she fell into the green poisoned water and sunk.**

 **The knight would've proceeded onward if the path to his right didn't pique his attention. He decided to go through it, moving quickly through the poisoned water.**

 **The path led to a room with a Pharros contraption bath, and a pleasantly familiar face standing near it.**

 **"Oh, it's you. Still on the road, are you?"**

 **Knight nodded positively. Weiss continued:**

 **"I've found my thoughts growing hazy. My memories are fading, oldest first. The curse is doing its work upon me. I am frightened…Terribly so…If everything should fade…What will be left of me…"**

 **He quickly approached her and put a hand on her shoulder, as means to perhaps reassure her that she will be fine...or perhaps that he is there for her.**

If this Undead curse was as horrible as it was described(which was being proven true with each passing moment), then Weiss was secretly glad that someone was there to comfort her.

She'd never admit it openly, of course.

 **The knight wanted to take Weiss' thoughts away from the grim subject, and pointed at her sword. Weiss took notice and spoke:**

 **"This sword, you ask? Well, there's a story to it."**

 **The knight leaned on the wall beside her as he listened.**

 **"I had an older sister. We learned to fence together. She became the most decorated swordswoman in all of Atlas. I never even compared to her. In fact, I never beat her, not once...But then, one day…she was gone, lost without a trace."**

 **Weiss paused for a bit, and shared her conclusion:**

 **"Now I'm certain. That she was taken, by the curse. Perhaps she must've come here. Soon I may even forget about her..."**

Winter wasn't one to be shaken up so easily, partly being the Specialist training, partly being...well, a Schnee. Exceptions do exist, one being in the form of a certain annoying man sitting next to her. Story for another time.

But to hear that she simply disappeared, with her own sister believing that she succumbed to this...curse, she couldn't help it but to worry for herself and for her own sister, alternate time or not.

 **A sudden, clanking stomp startled her a bit that came from the knight, her friend, who held his fist on his chest.**

 **Weiss chuckled, and her spirit was lifted, for a little bit at least.**

 **"Thank you, friend, for keeping hope for me. I must admit...you are one of the few things that keep me sane in this foul land."**

"Calling it - the ship is real and has sailed!" Yang grinned, while the only thing Weiss could do was facepalm - she knew that resistance is futile.

 **She guessed that the knight was smiling at her behind his helmet.**

 **"Oh, forgive me - you asked about my sword, haven't you? Well..."**

 **She removed the sword from the scabbard and held it with both of her hands. The sword's grip was made of high quality leather and it's crossguard was shaped in a rectangular "C" letter.**

 **The rain guard of the sword completely covered the lower part of the blade in leather, perhaps serving as a secondary grip if a foe was too close for the long blade.**

"Now that's a greatsword!"

 **But above with were several letters inscribed on the blade, in a form of a cipher.**

 **"That... is a message. My sister and I, we inscribed on our respective blades a promise that, wherever we may be - we will be reunited, one way or the other."**

 **Weiss chuckled a bit, and put the sword back in it's scabbard.**

 **"Funny - I completely forgot that the cipher even exists...Thank you, for reminding me of it."**

 **The knight waved his hand, his way of saying that he didn't do anything special, and proceeded on his way before waving goodbye to his friend.**

 _'What a terrible curse - taking away the memories that are the cornerstone of one's self...even the Gods aren't that cruel.'_ Ozpin thought.

 _'Yeah...keep dreamin' Oz...'_

* * *

 **The Black Gulch, when compared, made Earthen Peak look like a perfect livable place to raise a family.**

 **With that being said, there exists no gold that the Knight would take for spending an another unnecessary moment in the dark, hellish place.**

 **The Knight ran as quickly as he could while dodging the oncoming poisonous spits from the many statues that 'adored' the Gulch.**

 **His way forward was, however blocked by three abyssal creatures that rose from the dark ponds surrounding the open area.**

"I thought you told us there were no Grimm there!" Port spoke. Bob replied with:

"And I meant it - even if it looks similar, it still ain't Grimm."

 _'He speaks the truth. Those creatures are darker, more primal...and far more human than any Grimm I've created.'_ Salem thought, her eyes remained focused on the fight between the Knight and the Darksuckers.

 **He was slow to react, as one of the Darksuckers grabbed him with the intent of eating him whole. He resisted, as he held it's jaw with his right hand, while his left hand was nervously searching through his satchel.**

 **The Knight managed finally to pull a firebomb, which he proceeded to shove it directly through the Darksuckers mouth, setting the creature ablaze.**

 **It screeched loudly and thrashed itself all around the place, knocking the Knight away and off a cliff that led to a certain death. He should've died then and there, but he grabbed a ledge of a hidden path under the cliff.**

 **The flaming Darksucker fell just mere inches away from the knight, and unleashed a howling scream of pain and agony that got quieter and quieter as moments went by.**

"They do say luck serves the mad and the foolish. Is he perhaps both?" Tyrian commented in his usual, polite tone - which unnerved some of the students a bit.

 **He saw the shine of a familiar blade close to his neck as he was getting up. The Knight didn't fail to notice how the blade was shaking a little, and he soon found out why.**

 **"...Oh, you..."**

 **The sword was slowly put in the scabbard, almost as if it was the first time she wielded a sword.**

"No Weissy, you don't do that...well, not until after the first date!"

"Have you ever had a date yourself Yang? A proper, romantic date?"

Yang was about to respond to her teammates question until she realized that...well, she actually had no answer to begin with.

Weiss shot her a smug 'that's-what-I-thought' face at her, and she was unable to respond properly.

"Heh, shots fired."

She, however, could respond to that:

"Shut up, Black."

 **"Forgive me, I...my thoughts...are very scattered..."**

 **He paid no mind to her sudden reaction, so he placed a hand on her shoulder and guided her away from the chasm.**

 **They settled down next to an opening near a bonfire.**

 **Weiss began to speak:**

 **"What is this curse? The question rings in my mind, but I haven't the focus to answer it."**

 **The Knight shrugged, without any sense of joviality behind it this time.**

 **"Loss frightens me no end. Loss of memory, loss of self. If I were told that by...killing you, I would be freed of this curse… Then... I would draw my sword without hesitation."**

 _'Would I...really?'_

The fact that this Weiss is a mirror-match of herself...it raised some questions.

Would she have it in her to kill her teammates, her friends, her sister...if it meant to be ridden of such a burden that is the curse?

If there was no other choice?

The thought scared her...and was best left unanswered.

 **He simply turned his head towards the girl, but didn't staunch himself for any combat - he knew it wasn't necessary.**

 **Weiss lowered her head, as if she was embarrassed by herself, and spoke:**

 **"I don't want to die, I want to exist. I would sacrifice anything, anything at all for this. It shames me, but... it is the truth."**

Raven spoke confidently: "It is only natural and human to want to live. There's no shame in that, to sacrifice something out of desire to be alive."

"But...if you destroy everything around you in the process, then...what will be there to live for?"

Pyrrha's question captivated Raven's full attention.

"It isn't always like that."

The response came from Jaune, out of all people.

"There is always a choice, always a different way of doing things you didn't know or considered. I guess...making compromises on some sides ends up being the best choice in the long run."

His words, while perhaps not intentional, insinuated at the choices many of the audience members made - it was, however, more directed at Pyrrha than anyone else, and the former Champion couldn't help but to feel...ashamed of her choices.

Qrow, on the other side, was genuinely impressed by Arc's words.

 _'Heh, good thing you proved me wrong for underestimating you kid.'_

 **He reassured her by hugging her with one arm, which slightly surprised Weiss, but she did not resist at all.**

 **"Sometimes, I feel obsessed… with this insignificant thing called** _ **self**_ **. But even so, I am compelled to preserve it. Am I wrong to feel so? Surely you'd do the same, in my shoes?"**

The only one to openly admit this was the infamous thief.

"Of course. Who wouldn't?" Roman seriously spoke.

 **The Knight didn't respond at all, as he merely gazed towards the exit. Weiss was silent for a moment, and then she continued:**

 **"...Maybe we are all cursed...from the moment we're born..."**

 **After a few seconds, the Knight was about to stand up, but was stopped by Weiss.**

 **"Please, can you stay? Just for a moment?" she requested solemnly, and he abided.**

 _''And in our darkest hours, companionship is what could bring us to the light.' A well-known cliche, true, but still incredibly poetic and motivational.'_ Tyrian thought as he watched the scene unfold.

 **The room was getting darker and darker, until all that was left were the glowing green outlines of the poison-spitting statues. And with the moments passing, that too faded into black.**

* * *

 **The Knight's journey, however, didn't end there, as he stood before a great, bronze gate that lead to his next destination.**

 **He rummaged through his satchel for a moment before pulling out a regal-looking ring. He showed it to the gate, and in response - it opened and revealed a...**

 **Well, to call it a manor would be an understatement.**

"It...bears a very close resemblance to the Schnee manor." Ironwood commented, with Winter right behind him:

"You're not wrong, sir..."

 **Even with all the bleakness of Drangleic, Aldia's Keep stood tall and proud - a symbol of wealth, no surprise as it belonged to the King's brother.**

 **But even a perfect apple can be rotten in disguise, as tales of the manor spun around the country - rumours about people visiting it disappearing without a trace and the cruel experiments Aldia himself conducted.**

 **It didn't bother the Knight, as that was all before his time - irrelevant history, at least to him.**

 **As he walked on the path made of cobblestone, he immediately noticed a spark of fire coming from the inside of a small shack near the manor.**

 **He rushed towards it, hoping that she'd be there, waiting for him.**

 **But...**

 **He found her, unmasked, with a completely blank look on her face, kneeling beside the bonfire and gazing at it...**

 **"Who...are you?"**

 **The Knight was taken aback by the question, and feared that...**

 **"Oh, no, forgive me...I know you. Yes, of course."**

Ruby was relieved that Weiss still had a grasp of her memories. And she hoped it would stay that way.

 **He let out a silent, relieved sigh as he crouched next to Weiss.**

 **"How goes your journey? I...know not what you seek in this far-away land...but I pray for your safety."**

 **He knew...he knew that she was long gone now. It wasn't immediate, but soon...**

 **Weiss grabbed ahold of his scarf, and clung it like a drowning man, and spoke:**

 **"My name is Weiss. I beg of you, remember my name. For I may not myself..."**

 _'Wow, man...how-how screwed up is this? To ask a request like that?!'_ Neptune thought, pityingly looking at the Weiss by the bonfire.

And now he felt a bit bad about himself about openly flirting with other girls when Weiss - their Weiss, was clearly interested in him. He promised himself to change that as soon as he gets back to Remnant, whether Weiss was still interested in him or not.

Self-esteem issues can be a real bitch sometimes.

 **And then she let go, and continued to stare at the flickering flame of the bonfire.**

 **There wasn't much else to be said. But...**

 **As one final goodbye, the Knight tightly hugged Weiss. She was, once again, surprised by the sign of affection...but she didn't mind it, as she returned the hug back.**

 **They would've cried together... but Undead cannot cry.**

 **"Thank you...for being with me..." She whispered as she let go of him, fully knowing that he cannot stay with her.**

"Why isn't he staying with her? At least, why isn't he picking her up along?" Illia asked, to which Bob stepped up with a response:

"You've seen the state she's in now. And besides, he too has his own mission - much as he'd want, he can't do his task and babysit someone at the same time. No...it was the only thing he could do, and I guess it was the only that he could think of."

 **The Knight picked himself up and left the shack. He proceeded towards the main entrance of the manor, where he saw a closed up carriage that was trashing left and right - as if something inside was trying to break free.**

 **To break free from imprisonment, just like he wants to break free from the curse that ails not only him, but everyone else around him.**

 **Some, however, take an another route, as he remembers a talk he had with a friend back in Majula...**

 **The Knight was standing in front of a crestfallen warrior who he knew as Ghira. Even with his will extinguished, Ghira always provided useful advice for the Knight.**

 _'Dad looks really...depressed. Like he lost all his will to anything.'_ Blake thought to herself.

 **"You ask about invaders, do you?"**

 **The Knight nodded.**

 **"Undead with 'questionable' moral values who relish in killing, spreading their misery even through other worlds as if there wasn't much to begin with!" Ghira spoke with unusual disdain in his voice, with a hint of rage.**

 **"But..." he continued, calmly,"It is not a rare occurrence that a poor soul loses it's mind, and starts pillaging and stealing. Perhaps the reason is that they don't know better. It is sad, really - to lose all grasp to your life and your memories, and regress back to most basic urges."**

 **"It seems...that it is the fate of all us Undead."**

Kali felt a little disheartened, seeing her husband like this - she knew Ghira as someone who held his head high, never faltering with his beliefs while at the same time not following them zealously. In fact, it was one of the reasons why she protested on Blake going out with Adam - she wanted to see that there might be some redeeming qualities about him, to see him in the same way she saw Ghira.

But there was none of her husband's personality, to contrast the unsuppressed anger the boy radiated.

Ghira, on the other hand, pitied his self - something he would've considered to be funny since he was never a man for self-pity, as all it did was to stagnate with the inability of doing anything right. And yet, he wondered...what kind of events could've he experienced to become so...

"Man, Mr. Belladonna is even 'Blake-ier' than Blake herself.' Sun commented, unwillingly catching the attention of the Belladonna patriarch.

Ghira decided to play along with his daughter's newest plus one. Of course that he knew that Sun meant no harm in that - he's not THAT kind of irrational protective dad. Though it did take him some time to realize that.

"Seeing that she is my daughter, you are absolutely right."

"Yeah - wait, did you just make a joke?"

"Well, that is for me to know, and you to guess, isn't it?"

Sun could only lower his head in 'defeat'.

 **The Knight's mind returned to present, and in the right time - both the exit behind him and the door in front of him were covered in dense, thick wall of fog, which could only mean one thing...**

"That should be some sort of sign that something's happening or what?" Mercury asked outloud to no one in particular.

 **A message appeared beneath his feat, warning him of what he already knew. But it also showed the perpetrators identity, which shocked the Knight to the very core of his being.**

* * *

 _ **Invaded by dark spirit Winter of Mirrah!**_

* * *

The younger members of the audience(save a few) were visibly shocked at the twist. Adam looked disinterested, but was actually a bit amused deep down.

 _'Heh, how the high and mighty fall.'_

"Seriously, am I the only one who thought this would happen?" Roman spoke to himself quietly, to which Neo simply nodded her head.

 **He saw the red feminine figure rise from the floor. Clad in the same armor as Weiss, equipped with the same sword as Weiss...**

 **The only difference was her short hair, compared to Weiss' straightened and long.**

 **Winter spared no time as she charged towards him with her sword. The knight dodged towards her, evading the thrust as he equipped his own shield and axe.**

 **The sister of his friend was relentless in her assault on him. He dodged and evaded every single strike, whilst not finding the opportunity to perform a counter strike.**

 **When he actually had windows of opportunity to attack, Winter simply sidestepped every axe swing, one time even managing to slash him across his stomach. His shield wasn't much use as Winter proved to be a lot stronger than she looked.**

While Winter was still uncomfortable knowing that her other self fell victim to that damnable curse that took away her sanity and morals, she noticed how she moved in combat. She observed every step and swing, and finally came to two potential conclusions.

Either she was going easy on the Knight...or the curse's effects also affected the memory of her combat prowess as well.

She felt glad that there was no such thing as this Undead Curse on Remnant. She really was.

 **He didn't even had the time to drink the Estus up, and he knew that his current weapons simply won't do.**

 **So he unequipped them, the axe and shield disappearing into a wisp of souls...which formed into a large, thick tree branch.**

 **The Knight held the Great Club with both of his hands, and smashed it in Winter's direction. The woman dodged the massive weapon and positioned herself right behind him, perhaps in an attempt to backstab him.**

 **Of course, that was a fatal mistake on her part as the Knight simply lifted the Club and blindly smashed it on top of Winter.**

Qrow snorted at the scene, and commented:

"That was incredibly stupid and risky, even for me...But if it works, it works."

 **She was quite literally pancaked into the ground, but was somehow still moving - albeit, it was more twitching involved than actual moving.**

 **Knight simply stepped on her abdomen and delivered one final blow, killing Winter in the process as her phantom dissipated into thin air.**

* * *

 _ **Invader banished!**_

* * *

 **The Knight put the head of the Club down as he bent his knees, the battle obviously tiring him.**

"How do you even explain to an amnesiac that you killed her sister in self-defense properly?" Emerald questioned, a hint of sarcasm hidden in her tone.

Adam was the one to answer, much to the surprise of everyone in the White Seats:

"Directly - there is no other way."

 **After a few breaths, he rushed back the way he came and towards the shack, but...**

 **No one was there.**

"I disappeared? Just...like that?!"

"Yeah, and what was that with her sister there?" Yang followed.

Bob stepped out of the shadow and stood next to the screen.

"Remember when I told you that all your alternate selves are mirror-likes in different worlds? With the right tools, those mirror-likes, or anyone really - can transfer themselves into other worlds by spawning as phantoms to either help or antagonize the master of the world."

"Master of the world? I assume the meaning is literal."

"You assume correctly, Watts. For someone to invade another world, they need an anchor - they need a presence of a prominent figure. They can be anyone, as the invader anchors by coincidence, meaning that the invaders are usually unable to invade someone specific they may or may not want. However, there is a catch with the invaders - and that is their inability to interact with anyone else in the world that isn't the host they're currently invading."

"You spoke that these invaders can also help people too?" Ozpin asked.

"They can, but most of the time it takes the effort of the host to summon them in the first place - and unlike invaders, these benign phantoms can interact with everything in the world, including oncoming invaders. And I should probably stop now since I dragged this exposition for too long - roll!" Bob finished with a snap of his fingers as shadows consumed him yet again.

 **He sat down near the bonfire, and would wonder where his friend might've gone - but he already knew the answer.**

 **Or so he thought he knew...**

* * *

 **In another land, another corner of the world...another time, when the curse raged everywhere without mercy or quarter, a lone figure walked through a corridor made of high quality graystone that was overgrown with purple orchids.**

 **The figure was clad in regal looking armor, adored with a red cape that bore the insignia of some forgotten royalty.**

"Is, uh, is that the same guy from before?" Nora asked. Blake simply added with:

"Can't say it looks like it. Bob?"

"See it for yourself." he casually responded.

 **The Knight turned left to see a massive clearing that housed several Hollows that were praying to a hulking mass of wood that almost looked like it was sitting in the corner of the area...**

Roman spoke: "That's one big ugly tree right there."

"Right there? Sorry, I thought it was somewhere else."

"Very funny, Princess."

 **While it may seem to look like a dead abomination of a tree, he remembered the words of the sly Ringfinger back in the Firelink Shrine.**

 **He was talking to a man dressed in a fancy-looking hunter attire, accompanied with a hat and a mask to cover his face.**

 **"Ah, so you saw it, but you don't know what it is exactly, hm?"**

As he immediately recognized his own voice, Tyrian's interest piqued as he observed the conversation between himself and the Knight.

 **"That thing in the Undead Settlement is the Curse-Rotted Greatwood. Apt name, really. Believe it or not, it was once a giant - a friendly one at that, who helped the then-sane populace of the shanty-town." Tyrian snorted as he continued his story:**

 **"But when the curse started acting, the giant made a... 'selfless' act as it was revealed that he could take the curses of the ailing Undead. Granted, Undead were still Undead, but their sanity was safe...some good it turned out to be in the end, heh."**

"Giants turning into trees? What'll be next, talking decapitated heads?" Qrow commented.

Bob silently coughed at that.

 **"More and more curses started to appear, so they stuffed them all into the giant, which corrupted him. But the best part? Those who used the giant's services soon died, as an Undead without the curse to hold it ends up as nothing more than a walking rotting corpse after a few days. It is said that the souls of the curseless ended up returning to the giant to return what they cast out. Funny way of how things end up, isn't it?" Tyrian said as he laughed a bit.**

 **Before the Knight could leave the Ringfinger to his own devices, he spoke up once again:**

 **"You know, they say that those who stuffed their curses in that tree died the most agonizing deaths possible - if that's how you could describe the feeling of your own soul ripped from your body. Seems as if fate herself decided to punish the poor bastards that took the most convenient shortcut. Heh heh."**

Salem was a bit...irked, the reason being how this was reminiscent to her situation with Ozma, by her own most loyal subject no less.

She repressed that feeling quickly - a practice she perfected for thousands of years.

 **The Knight made quick work of the worshiping Hollows with his sword, an action that did not go unnoticed...**

 **The tree turned itself, revealing that it actually possessed four fully functional limbs. Alas, it couldn't walk properly due to it's sheer weight, so it had to drag itself towards the Knight.**

 **Knight noticed the white bulge of 'eggs' on the tree's crotch, and upon hitting it with a firebomb, he concluded that the eggs might be the Greatwood's weak spots.**

"Okay, that's...that's just disgusting!" Oscar was very evidently grossed out.

"Very aesthetically unpleasing!" Penny added in her usual cheerful voice, which made the situation slightly awkward to those who didn't actually knew Penny herself.

 **The massive tree retaliated with a surprisingly quick body rotation as its legs swept the area in front of them. Knight managed to block the attack in time, but was still sent flying back.**

 **He got up and immediately rushed towards the egg sack, bursting it completely with his sword as the horridly smelling liquids splashed all over him.**

 **The tree was stunned, and fell over, letting out an eerie screech that chilled the Knight's being to it's very core. The Greatwood managed to recover after a few moments, and, to the Knight's surprise, picked itself up and rammed it's bottom on to the ground...which caused the whole arena floor to collapse, plummeting both the Greatwood and the Knight into the Pit of Hollows below.**

 **The Pit was, well, a pit - iron, rusty cages surrounding a massive clearance that resembled one big pond. There was some light in the faraway corner, but the Knight couldn't divert his attention from his foe.**

 **He instinctively backed away when he saw a massive, sickly white hand burst out from the Greatwoods belly. A byproduct of the amount of curses and souls placed in it...or perhaps something else entirely.**

"And this, kids, is why you never dump all your garbage at the same place!" Tai joked, albeit he himself was disgusted by the scene too.

 **The Knight slid below the hand, dodging it's swipe while pulling out two curved swords from his satchel. He rushed towards the creatures arm and leg and proceeded to pop the eggs on both of the limbs.**

 **The Greatwood howled in pain, and retaliated by grabbing the Knight with it's new limb. The pale arm squeezed the Knight so tightly that a few crunching noises emanated from his body before slamming him straight onto the floor.**

"C'mon, man - that's nothing! Get up and kick that tree's ass!" Nora cheered. It brought a smile on Bob's face, hidden behind his mask.

 **He got up quickly, however, and poured half of his Estus over his head in a hurry - it didn't matter how much he was losing the precious liquid because he was ending this now...one way or the other.**

 **The Knight pushed a final charge with curved swords in both of his hands and shoved them straight into the eggsack below the arm, finally killing the eldritch beast.**

"Timber!"

"Yang, no."

 **The Greatwood fell on it's back, its arm became limp, and it's whole being returned to ash, as it was where it came from.**

 **There were now two new items in the Knight's possession - a titanite scale adorned box that was the Transposing Kiln...and the soul of the Curse-rotted Greatwood.**

"Is that... the soul of that beast?" a baffled Ozpin asked.

"Yep. Powerful beings have equally powerful souls, and Undead have the ability to harvest it after they killed it." Bob responded.

 **It's soul was made out of countless other souls that placed their curses inside of it, it's vomit-green color hinting that something obviously wasn't right with it.**

 **It didn't bother him, though, as he went to a newly formed bonfire close to a corpse of an man that was encased in silver armor and rags. An unfortunate casualty of the battle, one that he couldn't prevent it.**

"Well, you could say that the guy didn't know what hit him!"

"Not you too, Merc!"

 **His hand stretched out towards the handle of the bonfire and used its power to travel from the Pit of Hollows to...**

 **The Firelink Shrine.**

 **The large, ashen area is surrounded by a couple of staircases on the one side, while on the other there are 5 rocks, all in different shapes and sizes, that resembled thrones.**

 **One such throne was already occupied by an old, legless man with short white hair and a small crown adorning it.**

 **The Knight immediately went towards him, taking the stairs and then reaching the front of the throne.**

Salem would've laughed at the sight of the pitiful, ashen portrayal of her ex-lover...but strangely, she felt only pity. For a man she once loved more than anything, for a man who threw away everything they built for the same Gods who cursed them...

 _'There will be a change of plans after the host fixes our timeline...'_

But for now, she might as well sit back and relax - being immortal is not an easy job, after all.

 **"Fret not, fret not. My feet are here firmly planted. For I am a Lord, and this is my throne."**

 **The old, little lord looked pleasantly surprised to see him. His eyes grew wider, with a hint of excitement when the Knight presented him with the Transposing Kiln in his hands.**

 **"Oh, belike it is… a transposing kiln in thy possession. Seen better days, but, methinks it shall suffice! And it seems that alongside you have a twisted soul in your possession."**

 **The Lord took first the Kiln, and then took the soul of the Greatwood the Knight offered him.**

 **"Transposition is the art of extracting, and coalescing the essence of a soul. In transposing a twisted soul, its true power transferreth to thee. Thy purpose is to seek Lords, and slay them. What's to fear in a little transposition, now?"**

Now that little bit of information really piqued Cinder's interest. Extracting and technically weaponizing someone's soul sounds quite a taboo...for the ignorant.

 _'Shame that there is no such thing on Remnant.'_ Cinder thought.

"Hey Bob - what weapon would I be if my soul was trasp-tranpo- melded like that?"

Bob placed a hand under his chin, as he was thinking for a bit before speaking out:

"Well, now that you ask - your soul would probably be transposed as your oversized hammer Magnhild, only...that weapon of yours will also have traces of your Aura too, perhaps adding a little effect that differs from your own weapon."

"Cool!"

 **The soul in the Lord's hand started to mend, taking a shape of an oversized stick above the Transposing Kiln.**

 **A greatsword, the Knight thought. Wasn't too bad, considering his luck with weapons and such other things.**

 **The soul started violently to take shape in a wave of wisps and souls. The Knight would normally assume that something was wrong, if it weren't for the calm face of the transposition craftsman.**

 **After a few moments, a strick of light flashed before both men, and the fruits of the Lord's labor was open for show.**

 **Only...**

 **The Knight's hands started mildly shaking as the Lord handed the sword to him.**

Any sign of a relaxed, chatty atmosphere disappeared now. Most people were in shock to see the results of the transposition, while a certain faunus had a satisfying grin on his face.

"N-no...It's-it's a completely different sword! It has to be!" Ruby stuttered out, but most of the people around her didn't look very convinced.

"Nah, it's definitely a different sword, right guys?" Jaune tried to take an optimistic way around, but couldn't affect the general atmosphere in the end.

 **He wished this moment was no more than a mere nightmare, to deny this...but he knew that there was only one way to be sure.**

 **As he pulled the sword from its sheath, all the hope he had was mercilessly crushed by reality, as his eyes saw the unique cryptic cypher that was unique to Weiss' sword. The promise between sisters...**

Adam suppressed his urge to laugh, even if every fiber of his being was telling him to do so. He was content with smiling in a satisfactory manner...and occasionally glancing at Blake's shocked expression.

 **"I am truly sorry for your loss." the Lord spoke somberly, but the Knight didn't pay no mind.**

 **Each stair step felt like an eternity as his eyes never left the sight of his friend's sword.**

 **He exited the Shrine and went into the massive open graveyard, where he collapsed on his knees as he clutched the sword tightly to his chest.**

 **Undead cannot cry...but unfortunate exceptions can occur from time to time.**

...

Winter felt ashamed - ashamed that she wasn't strong enough to get a grasp of her sanity, that she couldn't be there with her sister and save her.

The cold, logical part of her, the one she followed her entire life, spoke that Weiss was beyond saving, and in doing so - it would be like trying to reassemble a torn-up puzzle. It would've done more harm than good.

That's what she wanted to think.

Weiss was...disturbed by her ultimate fate. To take the easy way out of something, and then later suffer the consequences - it was funny, really. It was something that she went against her entire life, but in the middle of a personal crisis, her self went out and reached for the easy answer.

And paid her price dearly.

Was it worth it, in the end?

* * *

 **Inspired by: "Lucatiel of Mirrah" from Dark Souls II**

 **You though this one's gonna end well, eh?**

 **Gonna do something a little bit lighter next time. Check it out fer yerselves.**

 **SNEAK PEAK :**

 **No sneak peaks this time! Why?**

 **Because the next one is going to be a song...that my friend wrote.**

 **Yep, next chapter will technically be advertisement for my buddy whose songs are actually pretty good - he just has some issues marketing them.**

 **Toodles!**

 **\\[T]/**


	5. Break and Bounce!

**Ey.**

 **How's life?**

 **Mine's great.**

 **Just chopped half of my index finger and a part of my fingernail with a meat slicer while working at the deli.**

 **Made a real fucking mess there at the store. 12 stitches at the hospital, which I just got removed a few days ago.**

 **Still can't feel the chopped up part, but at least it's healed enough for me to play the guitar, so all's good!**

 **Now, on to review responding!**

 **shadowh3nters : No, and go fuck yourself.**

 **StrongGuy159 : Here's the next chapter. And it's all for you...**

 **Really(Guest) : Thanks mate, you made me laugh my ass off of how stupid your review is. Seriously, I couldn't stop for 2 minutes, it was just that funny!**

 **Here's the thing, jackoff - I asked nicely SEVERAL times for you idiots to not post requests, because that clogs my review space for actual reviews that could potentially point out my errors and thus make my writing skills a bit better. I asked nicely, and yet you do that anyway!**

 **Since you want to get technical on me - have you ever heard of the term _'passive-agressiveness'_? You see, ****passive** - **aggressive** **people regularly exhibit resistance to requests or demands from family and other individuals often by procrastinating, expressing sullenness, or acting stubborn.**

 **If you still don't understand due to your underdeveloped brain, lemme simplify it.**

 **If you play in the park(simple as it can get, right?) and someone pokes you with a stick, you'll ask that person to stop poking you with a stick, right?**

 **What about if that person ignores your request and continues poking you? You ask again and clarify what needs to be stopped, because you are a normal, civilized human being.**

 **If that cocksucker STILL continues to poke you despite that, then it's perfectly natural to get ape-shit crazy and start hitting that motherfucker back.**

 **You see, if you stubbornly deny someone's plead to stop doing something because nothing good will come out of it for the both of you, then you're technically harassing that person. Doesn't matter on how you do it, be it obviously violent or polite, it's still harassment.**

 **Now that I think about it, it's kinda like giving consent.**

 **I won't take responsibility for my mistakes simply because I haven't made any.**

 **You think that watching a few 'how-to' videos instantly makes you an expert at something?**

 **It takes a lot of experience and a LOT of pain down the road to claim that you are good at that one particular thing. Seeing how it is, making arguments and discussing about stuff is NOT your forte because you failed to put one critical thing in motion - and that is taking into account on what the other side thinks. Something that you clearly failed to do so.**

 **It's also interesting how you went full anonymous on me - almost as if you're goading me to delete the review, huh? Well, sorry to say but the rules are set - only anon requests will get deleted, and ONLY that.**

 **Nice try.**

 **By the way, you're a total bitch.**

 **Sephyrum : Sent you a PM, but I'll say it again - thank you! I'd probably notice the mistake like 3-4 weeks later, and you just sped up the process. Speaking of the church, can we all pray for the anon who sent me their essay on why I suck? Believe me - they'll need it.**

 **Midnight49 : I may or may not add similar stuff to the previous chapter. Making no promises tho.**

 **BowmanW : I really appreciate it mate. Tho, you kinda skimmed through some things in this fic - I clearly stated that Tyrian IS the Ringfinger, not the anon MC. Eh, mistakes are made, no harm done.**

 **As for Weiss, you can thank the writers of the DS2 script - I just copy and paste the stuff and add a some of my own personal touch to it, nothing more or less.**

 **Thanks for the support man!**

 **Victor John Foxfire : Hey, NOBODY wants to end up in a thing like the Curse-Rotted Greatwood. As for Adam, well - the dude has the SDC brand on his eye, so you can't blame him for enjoying the fact that Weiss suffered a horrible fate. Glad that I provided some info on the DS universe!**

 **Brady420 : I can't tell if you're being serious or sarcastic. Oh well, I'll just laugh at your review.**

 **Snowballs FF : I decided to drop the whole Warframe thing, simply because I lost interest in the game...for now. I'll return to it once I get a much better computer, but as for the story there will be no Warframe things. Sorry to disappoint you.**

 **For the last part, well...you'll have to see the sneak peak. ;)**

 **The link to my friends songs will be below the review response. PM me if you're still in on helping him.**

 **CR451 : I know, right? I'm such a good friend0w0**

 **Lord Adorable : It's Dark Souls, and not many tales end happily. Exceptions, however, do occur from time to time...**

 **MrMither102 and ThatGuy : AhahahahaHAHAHAHAHA!HAHAHAH!HAHAHAHAHAHA! *proceeds to smash a table barehanded and beat a random naked intern***

 **DDD(Guest) : You think it's cool? Well I think it HOT BOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!420 NOSCOPE!WHERE YOU AT?My name's Jeff.**

 **...**

 **Ahem, got a little overboard there, haven't I?**

 **Apologies!**

 **My friends song list is on soundcloud, but as you know it, FFnet is retarded and doesn't want to show links on stores.**

 **The cocks.**

 **The band name is temporary, so it may be subjected to change in the future:**

FUCKYOU: / / soundcloud . CUM ? door_revolver_band

 **To properly decode this, here are the solutions:**

 **FUCKYOU = https**

 **CUM = com**

 **? = /**

 **Delete the empty spaces and you'll get direct access to my friend's music! PM me if this method works or not, please.**

* * *

Even after that gloomy ending of the last show he gave them, his audience acted...well, as every other normal human being - either they were chatting among themselves, or were patiently waiting for the next thing.

It somewhat pleasantly surprised Bob, seeing how all of them looked like the last clip never happened...

 _'Then again, they do live in a world where any of them might potentially die...and the Grimm not being the only way to go. Good to see they just go with it...'_

Even Ruby, who cried when she saw Weiss' fate looked cheery as she can get while talking to the Weiss in the room.

 _'It ain't gonna happen now, but sooner or later - one of them's gotta break, heh.'_

Bob's train of thought was stopped by a certain fast-talking green haired professo-

"It's Doctor!"

Uh...okay.

Weird.

Bob's train of thought was stopped by Doctor Oobleck who addressed him with a peculiar question:

"So...all our look alikes we see on the screen, no matter how different they seem to be, they are still us?"

"Like looking yourself in the mirror, Doc." Bob responded.

Oobleck had his hand on his chin, and his mind in deep thought.

"They also represent the subconscious - the inner desires...and the fears of people, do they not?" Watts inquired.

"Couldn't have explained better myself! In fact, it is not that your other selves are different - they only made different choices...choices that you could also make, if the opportunity is given."

 _'While sometimes, the option of choice isn't possible, so you do what you can do.'_ Bob thought, deciding not to raise the issue even further...at least for now.

"What's next? Please don't be anything...well, sad. Like the last time." Nora asked.

"Before I do anything, I'll have to borrow some of the audience members here. Roman, Neo, Penny - follow me, please?"

Both Roman and Neo looked at each other and mentally concluded that there would be no harm in that, so they stood and walked towards Bob.

Penny almost happily jumped from her seat and strolled towards her host.

"You better not try anything funny with her!" Ruby warned in her most threatening tone...which wasn't threatening at all to begin with.

"Do I look like someone who would do such a thing? In fact, forget I asked." Bob said the moment Yang tried to reply, leaving her hanging in mid-start of a sentence.

Bob did turn suddenly, making the whole group with him stop in their tracks, and said:

"Tell me, James - is Penny old enough to be of legal age of consent?"

The question earned him a silent snicker from Neo, an eye roll from Roman and general expressions of confusion, shock and with some - even disgust.

"How-Why in Gods' names would you ask a question like tha-?!"

"HAH! Just messin' with ya Jimmy! Seriously, you REALLY need to get some R&R when you get back."

Bob motioned Roman, Neo and Penny to follow behind him.

Part of the wall near the White seats slid up, revealing a hidden doorway. All four of them went in with the door sliding down behind them, leaving the audience completely by themselves.

Of course, the room didn't remain completely silent, as chatter could once again be heard everywhere.

On the White seats, Qrow decided to start a conversation with his fellow colleague:

"So, how are the repairs going Glynda?"

"Quite well. In fact, the government officials of Vale are trying their best to keep me... _happy_ ", the last word being emphasized with annoyance,"once they saw how much money can be saved with the help of a telekinetic Semblance."

"I couldn't fathom what would we do without you, Glynda."

The teacher adjusted her glasses and responded:

"With all due respect, Headmaster Ozpin, if you gave me a penny-"

"Do you need me, Professor Goodwitch?"

"Not you, Miss Polendina - for every time I heard that exact same sentence, I'd already own half of Vale."

The former Beacon students smiled and laughed nervously when Glynda looked at them. In hindsight, Ren knew he should've given more credit than his teammates and himself gave to the teacher.

"On a side note, I see you've grown a beard there, James. It suits you fine."

James sighed, even though he appreciated the compliment:

"A byproduct of losing several years of my life trying to reason with the Atlas council on why the travel ban was a necessary evil, but thank you nevertheless...for the compliment, that is."

Qrow giggled like a kid and started silently chanting:

"Jimmy and Glynda sitting on a tree, K-I-S-S-I-" Ozpin interfered before Qrow finished:

"Now, now, Qrow - you're not a student anymore."

"I ain't, true, but my heart and spirit is one of a student!" Qrow joked, earning positive cheers from Taiyang and Port, while Raven eyes rolled.

"Old people, right?" Mercury spoke, and not too soon someone behind him responded with:

"You will become one yourself soon, Black."

Let it be known by the Black seat occupants that Arthur Watts knows two things - how to give results, and how to deliver burns.

Meanwhile, with the students of both Beacon and Haven...

"So - who do you think Bob likes the most?"

Some of the students were caught off-guard by Nora's question. Jaune scratched his head in mild confusion and said:

"Well, I guess he likes Torchwick and that weird, mute girl..."

"And really hates that Cinder woman." Neptune added.

"Yeah, speaking of which - what was that? You know, when he grabbed her and his hand was all red and blurry?" Yang inquired, as she turned towards everyone else.

Blake shifted nervously at the mention of that, which didn't get unnoticed.

"Blake, do you maybe know something about that?"

"I-I'm not exactly sure, but...when he pinned her down and his hand morphed, it was...it felt like he was about to violate her very being with it. I could even see it in his eyes - he was ready to take everything from her soul that defined her." Blake stammered.

"Well, that's a bit...dark and scary, isn't it?" Oscar added.

"Eh, I thought it was pretty cool."

"Yang, I know you wouldn't be singing the same song if Bob did that to us." Weiss retorted. Ren stepped in with his own question, and asked:

"How did you know all that, Blake? Is it a Faunus trait, perhaps?"

"Well, if it is a Faunus trait, then I didn't sense anything from Bob at all. Believe me, I paid attention when that happened, but I can't describe that like Blake did." Sun said.

"Neither have I. Maybe it's a specific trait in question?" Illia asked.

Seeing that there were no clear answers for now, Blake dismissed the whole thing...for now:

"I don't know...and I think I don't want to know." She whispered the last part to herself before speaking, " Never mind that, we've completely derailed from the first topic. Nora?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah! So - whaddaya think who's Bob's favorite here?"

"Are we seriously going to continue this discussion?" Weiss asked, with a hint of annoyance in her tone.

"We don't have to...cuz everyone knows I'm Bob's favorite! Guy likes my puns, enough said." Yang smiled, as she pointed at herself with both her thumbs.

"I think that he might like Pyrrha the most - he did bring her back, after all." Pyrrha turned to Jaune, feeling a bit surprised he might say that.

"Torchwick and Penny were brought back too." Ren countered. Sun then spoke up:

"Yeah, speaking of Penny - she's probably the one, since, you know...he took her with him."

"Nah, that's too obvious! It's gotta be Renny!" Nora decided, which only served to confuse her partner as well as the rest of the guys.

"Uh, how so?" Ruby asked.

"Reasons!"

"Why don't we just ask him and get this over with?" suggested Blake, who was already tired of the whole topic.

"We can't just ask him like that-"

"Ask me what?"

The audience turned their attention towards the stage, or rather the peculiar shimmering of air that was happening on it.

The shimmering abruptly ended, revealing the quartet of Bob, Roman, Neo and Penny who were all equipped with various musical instruments and tech. Penny was sitting at the drums, Neo and Roman had a bass and an electric guitar respectively(with Roman having a mic in front of him), while Bob was standing above a chair on which an acoustic guitar was put.

Bob had his hands behind his back and his own microphone in front of him.

"Nothing important, really - it isn't." Weiss responded.

"Nah, I'm just messin' with ya again - I heard everything. And to answer your question..."

Bob presented a familiar grey corgi which he held in his hands.

"This little guy is my favorite!"

Both Ruby and Weiss yelped the moment they saw a happily panting Zwei who jumped from Bob's grip and rushed straight towards Ruby.

"No..."

"Aw, don't worry Weiss - you'll get to hold him too." Ruby said as she held Zwei in her lap.

"I'm fine either way as long as it's away from me." Blake quietly said, sending suspicious glances at the dog...who still had his happy expression on his face.

"So!"

Bob sat down and placed the guitar on his lap.

"Me and the gang are gonna play you a song. And before you ask, yes - we did practice this, none of this is improvisation..."

"Practiced? You've been gone for like 2 minutes!" Yang said.

"Well, this isn't the only room available in this space. We went to, what I like to call it, the Studio room, where time is essentially sped up drastically - so your 2 minutes here were actually 2 hours in the Studio."

Seeing that the audience was satisfied with his answer, Bob continued:

"This song was written by a dear friend of mine, and, well - I hope you like it."

With that, Bob took a shallow breath...and started playing the tune of the song.

The sounds coming from the acoustic guitar where calm, the finger picking chords continuously playing in repeat.

 _ **Today your world is gonna break**_

 _ **Reactions overdue**_

 _ **I pray you never again wake**_

 _ **The demons within you**_

 _ **It's all a ploy to get you under their control**_

 _ **But sympathetic heroes hide their scars beneath their soul**_

The fingerstyle tune kept repeating, and Bob sang again:

 _ **Tonight you'll say that it's your time**_

 _ **Just like you always do**_

 _ **But I know somehow it won't be right**_

 _ **Doing without you**_

 _ **Something just feels off without you being here**_

 _ **Something I cannot explain, yet I still hold so dear**_

The electric guitar started playing as Roman went on a few different chords. The acoustic didn't pause there and kept continuing it's tune in the background.

 _ **From the outside looking in**_

 _ **It seems you've finally found the cause**_

 _ **But nothing's over when you think it is**_

 _ **Don't give up the fight or**_

 _ **Let the people judge you**_

 _ **Based on what they think are flaws**_

 _ **After all, you don't want them to win**_

 _ **Do you?**_

Penny lightly tapped her drums near the end of the verse. After it finished, the drums became more dominant and the beat got more complex. Neo started playing the bass at the end of the verse, the tune supporting the main guitars. A faint sound of violins can be heard in the background, being played by the automatic synth.

Penny's drums then got more active with the beats.

 _ **I know you think I'm gonna break**_

 _ **Just like they always do**_

 _ **But I'm so much stronger than those fakes**_

 _ **Just wanting to hurt you**_

 _ **I know where you've been and what you're going through**_

' _ **Cause even if you don't believe it, I've been in your shoes**_

Roman changed his tune again, now being supported by Penny and Neo.

 _ **From the outside looking in**_

 _ **It seems you've finally found the cause**_

 _ **But nothing's over when you think it is**_

 _ **Don't give up the fight or**_

 _ **Let the people judge you**_

 _ **Based on what they think are flaws**_

' _ **Cause everybody has their share of sins**_

 _ **And you'll be alright**_

The drums then went switched to a marching beat as the chorus began:

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't know where to begin**_

 _ **So let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **Because I know where you have been**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't want more broken skin**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in, please!**_

 _ **Let me in!**_

The drums changed their rhythm once again.

 _ **(Let me in...)**_

Both the drums, bass and the acoustic were silenced. The electric guitar toned down as an atmospheric synth was played in the background.

 _ **From the outside looking in**_

 _ **It seems you've finally found the cause**_

 _ **But nothing's over when you think it is**_

 _ **Don't give up the fight or**_

 _ **Let the people judge you**_

 _ **Based on what they think are flaws**_

' _ **Cause everybody has their share of sins**_

 _ **Do you?**_

All four instruments went in overdrive and upped their volume as Roman provided back vocals and Bob sang:

 _ **Let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't know where to begin**_

 _ **So let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **Because I know where you have been**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't want more broken skin**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in, please!**_

 _ **Let me in!**_

 _ **Let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't know where to begin**_

 _ **So let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **Because I know where you have been**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in!**_

 _ **I don't want more broken skin**_

 _ **Just let me in! Let me in, please!**_

 _ **Let me in!**_

All the instruments and sounds went silent for a few moments...before Bob started playing the acoustic guitar, signaling that the song will end:

 _ **Today we're finally gonna break**_

 _ **Just like we always do**_

 _ **Today we're finally gonna break….**_

 _ **(Can't do it without you)**_

The acoustic played a different harmony, and the song ended.

The newly formed band was met with applause from both White and Black seats.

"It was...alright, I suppose." Winter idly commented.

"Never knew you can actually sing, Bob!"

"Hey, don't judge a book by it's cover, I say." Yang grinned at Bob's response.

"Satisfactory. It was a pleasant song to hear - your friend has talent." Watts spoke, which surprised Bob a little.

"Yeah! It kinda sounded like a love song - was it one?" Sun asked, to which Bob replied:

"Kinda, he wrote that for a person special to him."

"That's sweet!" Nora chirped.

The band stood idly for a solid second before the host turned to his three bandmates and asked:

"Wanna go for another one?"

Neo and Roman happily nodded, although Roman also had a very devious grin on his face...which aroused some suspicion for Ruby.

"I am performance ready!"

"A second song?" Blake asked.

"Yep. It'll be a little different than the previous one - perfect to, _aheh_ , lift some spirits up."

Bob, to the surprise and shock of many, unequipped his guitar and started violently smashing it on the floor. After several hits, Bob threw the guitar in the far corner of the room and detached the mic from the stand.

A distorted guitar riff started playing as Roman screamed:

 _ **JUMP!**_

The riff went on going...and it didn't look like it's going to stop any moment.

 _ **BOUNCE!**_

Bob head pumped to the sound of the riff. A few younger members from the White seats joined in the activity.

 _ **DOWN!**_

Safe to say, Taiyang was very surprised at how the whole thing escalated without any warning.

Not that he minded it.

 _ **UP!**_

Ruby wasn't sure how to feel about this since she didn't like this particular style of rock, but she could see Penny clearly having fun as she rapidly hit those drums.

 _ **JUMP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

Bob started singing in a very, VERY gruff voice - almost like the original singer of the song.

 _ **BOUNCE!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **DOWN!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **UP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **JUMP(Pogo)! BOUNCE(Pogo)! UP(Pogo)! NOW(Pogo)!**_

The heavy guitar riff transitioned to string picking as Bob began to sing:

 _ **I went out on a date with a girl, a bit late**_

 _ **She had so many friends!**_

 _ **(Gliding through many hands!)**_

Roman sung the back vocals in an unusually high-pitched voice while Bob stroked the air around his crotch:

 _ **I brought my pogo stick just to show her a trick**_

 _ **She had so many friends!**_

 _ **(Gliding through many hands!)**_

Safe to say, the more mature members of the audience were either visibly shocked or mildly annoyed by such vulgarity.

The more sophisticated members just laughed their assess off at that.

The guitar then returned to it's previous riffs while Roman and Bob screamed out:

 _ **JUMP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **BOUNCE!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **DOWN!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **UP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **JUMP(Pogo)! BOUNCE(Pogo)! UP(Pogo)! NOW(Pogo)!**_

 _ **Unannounced Twister games, all players with no names**_

 _ **They lined up, double quick!**_

 _ **(But just one pogo stick!)**_

 _ **Everyone gets to play, runaway, exposé**_

 _ **It was so exotic!**_

 _ **(But just one pogo stick!)**_

It took a moment for Ruby to realize just what the song was all about. She covered her blush by putting her palms to the face.

Oscar was still confused by the whole situation.

 _ **JUMP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **BOUNCE!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **DOWN!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **UP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **JUMP(Pogo)! BOUNCE(Pogo)! UP(Pogo)! NOW(Pogo)!**_

Roman abruptly stopped the riff and started picking strings in a different way. Both Neo and Bob approached the criminal, and Bob positioned himself between the both as he put his hands on their shoulders.

Roman then changed the picking into rhythmic distortion riffs as all three of them headbanged to them.

Out of all the members, it was Nora who took the cake as she presented a remarkable amount of passion of enjoying the song, with Yang and her Dad coming behind her.

The harmony slightly changed as Bob provided a melodic "oh" throughout the whole section.

The riffs got slightly milder as Bob slurred the lyrics out:

 _ **Ooh, I like to spread you out**_

 _ **Touching whoever's behind!**_

 _ **JUMP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **BOUNCE!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **DOWN!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **UP!**_

 _ **Pogo, pogo, pogo!**_

 _ **JUMP(Pogo)! BOUNCE(Pogo)! UP(Pogo)! NOW(Pogo)!**_

 _ **WHOAH!**_

The end was now greeted with a small cheer of the resident crazies (including Tyrian Callows, to which Cinder wasn't surprised at all).

Blake would never admit it openly, but she really, REALLY liked the song. Not so surprising, considering what her favorite literature is.

"Welp, I'll never look at pogo sticks the same ever again." Neptune casually said, which earned him a chuckle from his team leader.

"For Gods' sake, why? WHY?!"

Bob turned his attention to a rather fuming Weiss, who continued:

"Why would you ruin a feeling of a perfect,gentle song by adding this, this...PERVERTED TRASH!"

"Hey, c'mon - now you're turning from an Ice Queen to a plain drama queen!" Yang smirked, ignoring the death stare Weiss was giving her.

"It was fun."

"Yep- wait, you liked it, Ren?"

"Of course Jaune, why would I not like it?"

Both Jaune and Pyrrha were caught of guard by a direct answer from Ren, not really expecting that the music might be in his taste.

Nora giggled at that.

"Was the...smashing really necessary?" Glynda asked, to which Bob simply responded:

"Hey, I had to prepare you somehow for this. Well, that - and I just like to break stuff."

As all the band members returned to their seats, Bob went to the opposite direction towards the same corridor he went through just several minutes ago.

"Bob?"

"Yes, Weiss?"

"I hate you."

He knew that she didn't really mean it - it was just the typical 'Weiss-Schnee-wannabe-tsundere' act.

"I love you too."

"UGH!"

The RBY couldn't help but smirk at that. Weiss calmed afterwards and patiently waited for the next thing. That is, until Mercury decided to voice himself with a legitimate question:

"Uh, where is Taurus?"

Everyone looked at the empty spot where a Black seat was, with both the seat and it's occupant...gone.

Almost as if he was never there in the first place.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Honestly? I think we need to have a little...heart to heart talk between us, don't you?"

* * *

 **Inspired by:** **"Break (Let me In) - Demo" by Micheal Mackay & "Bounce" by System of a Down**

 **Didn't expect the second one, didja?**

 **Just to be clear, my friend gave me a go for adding "Bounce" here, so don't get all ethical on me.**

 **As for the story, well...**

 **The plot thickens! Did you really expect that this would be one of your "reaction-to-alternate-universes" run-of-the-mill fic, eh?!**

 **SNEAK PEAK:**

"So our character here looks to identify what that explosive impact was caused by, and..."

...

"You can see what the primary motive of the writers was here...We don't see her face first, any wounds she may have, we see..."

...

"I'm not complaining. I'm just...sayin'. Not complaining. I like 'em. Shit, it's all I gotta say."

 **\\[T]/**


	6. Of Angels and Forced Incest

**This chapter took probably more time than it should have. And honestly? That was just me being a lazy fuck as usual.**

 **I also found something interesting while I was scrolling through my reviews.**

 **Most of my haters are either complete anons or have profiles that are downright cringe. And by cringe I mean that I really have to question if your parents ever loved you.**

 **So, on to review response!**

 **Guest(Apr 11th): While you may be disappointed by the lack of Frank in this fic, trust me - there will be some things girls DEFINITELY won't like to see, if ya get me ;)**

 **StrongGuy159: Here's another one.**

 **Now, there's a lot of Guest reviews on April 12th, so I'll do them in chronological order here;**

 **1st Guest: Dicks dice? That's a pretty good punk rock band name.**

 **2nd Guest: No Filthy Frank, changed the sneak peak, sorry mate.**

 **3rd Guest: But I don't accept suggestions. And I already did put in the summary that I don't accept requests AND I also put it on the top of first two chapters. I do read reviews, I like reading reviews of my work and I don't accept suggestions by any means, be it either reviews or PM. If you read all the words of this fic carefully, maybe you could've spared the time and effort you put into writing that and use it to be a productive member of the society. So I wish you die in your ignorance.**

 **4th Guest: Ah, so you actually went and posted a correction of the dicks dice review? I must say mate, that's really pathetic and kinda sad if you took the time to post it a second time with corrections. You must be the kind of person who puts milk before cereals then.**

 **Sephyrum: I do appreciate your support mate, but no need to waste yer time on these idiots who clearly don't have anything better to do. I'd rather value more a proper review of the fic, which is something that's hard to come by these days somehow.**

 **Guest(Apr 13th): No, but feel free to search them on your own. Then I'd recommend shoving them up yer ass.**

 **Wall Maria's time master: I know. The chapter was meant to be a pseudo-promotional thing for my friend who makes actual good listenable music.**

 **Tobias Valentin Gonzales: ****No, lee el resumen antes de publicar esta mierda estúpida como esta, idiota.**

 **Sergeant Snash: Nope, it's not.**

 **Guest(May 27th/Ch 2): Then maybe this fic isn't written for people like you, ever thought of that?**

 **MrMither102 and ThatGuy: Forgive me, but I have absolutely no fucking idea what that reference was about.**

 **Brady420: Then you might wanna change yer profile from being 'brutally honest' to 'hating shit without any reason or facts to back it up'.**

 **Guest(May 27th/Ch 5): Feel free to try it. Don't be surprised if you end up with your teeth kicked out and that stick shoved up in your throat. Oh wait, you can't, cuz it's easier to type shit like that on a keyboard behind anonymity, isn't it?**

 **Anon(Guest): It's actually a perfect analogy, since I'm not talking about small children who clearly don't know better - I'm talking about adults whose brains are developed enough to critically think about their own actions and the actions of other people. And good suggestion of calling the police on someone who follows you - they'll be of great help when I bleed out from my neck being slashed with a knife. Ever think of that? Of course not - makes me wonder how you're still alive. Well, IF you're still alive by this point, rofl.**

 **OnePunchPlayer: No I don't. Please, enlighten me on what you REALLY meant by that. **

**By the way, I've also checked your profile - cringiest passive-aggressive stuff I've seen in months. You do know that those types of profiles died out a decade ago, right?**

 **Right?**

 **PSA: Don't be this guy.**

 **Onwards to a lengthy chapter boys and girls!**

* * *

"So, Adam...how's it going?"

The current leader of the White Fang could sense no malice nor sarcasm in Bob's tone, considering that one moment he was sitting next to his allies, and in the other he appeared somehow in a boxed up room filled with instruments.

Both of them were sitting on rotating wooden chairs, facing away from each other.

Adam scanned the room quickly, and took notice of more gear next to the instruments, perhaps something tied to music. The Studio Room was a lot roomier than what you'd expect of a typical studio, with a lot of space to move and place stuff.

"Considering that I am essentially trapped in the same room with the people I want to destroy, it has been _going_ surprisingly well...but why waste my time asking the question on which you already know the answer?"

Bob snorted at Adam's response. If he still had his weapon and Semblance, the bull faunus would've gladly _taught_ the masked man a lesson of respect.

So he was somewhat surprised when Bob's laughter ceased instantly. Truth be told, he wasn't expecting a question like:

"When did it start to be about Blake, and not about the people?"

Adam scoffed:

"What is it to you, _human_?"

"I simply want to know how the guy who fought tooth and nail for the rights of his brethren, doing things no one else would or could do for the sake of his people turns into nothing more than a psychotic ex-boyfriend."

"If you truly believe it is that simple, human, then I overestimated your knowledge of us."

"Believe me, I know plenty about you...but I seek, above all, to understand you. That's what I'm missing."

Adam paused for a bit, while Bob patiently waited for him to speak up, if he chose to do so.

Fortunately, Bob didn't have to wait any longer.

"Blake was there with me, giving orders alongside me, supporting me, aiding me in our actions...and then she decides to leave me on a whim? If you really seek to understand, then realize my reaction to her foul betrayal and desertion."

"But then why waste your time on her?" Bob asked, to which Adam scoffed:

"I'm a very...vengeful person, of that you know much."

"I'm not judging you on that, I too have a tendency to hold grudges. But, _heh_ , let me reiterate the question - why waste your time on a coward, when you have a whole race, YOUR race, that is a thousand times more worth protecting?!"

Bob continued on, cutting off Adam's potential response:

"Do you know that Blake left Yang, right after you chopped her arm off? No goodbyes, no messages, no notes - poof, gone without a trace. It took the monkey boy's, out of all people, complete mental strength for her to pull her head out of her ass. And you, in the meantime, decided to kill Sienna Khan. And for what?!"

"It was no longer her place to lead the Fang. I knew that she would never accept the deal Reinart was offering, so I disposed of her. Nobody in the organization had qualms with my decision."

"The deal that Salem was offering, huh? Forgetting about that little fiasco at Mistral, are we?"

"A miscalculation. I couldn't foresee that Ghira Belladona would rally a militia on his own-"

"Lemme stop you right there. What Ghira did isn't important. Know what is? The fact that Salem found the Headmaster of Haven disposable after Cinder and her cronies were defeated, so the woman you so eagerly wanted to make a deal with took her _sweet time_ in killing the poor guy. Imagine what she could've done to you if you slipped up."

"A risk that I was willing to take."

Adam felt confused when Bob started genuinely laughing at his response.

"Hahahah! Oh, Adam, Adam...I said _could_ have, not would have. You know, I still can't believe you chickened out when Cinder trashed down a few of your grunts, and immediately went on joining her little scheme. Well, guess what bucko - she ISN'T that strong."

Adam couldn't help but feel a little bit curious of what would Bob say next. Something that he may use to his advantage later?

"Cinder, for all her power...has absolutely no skill in using it. Her over-inflated ego works against her in gaining any skill of using the power she has. If it weren't for the intervention of the Grimm Dragon, Cinder would've had her ass handed by Pyrrha Nikos. What I'm saying is that you could've easily killed Cinder and her two lapdogs, and from what I've seen - the Lieutenant knows how to use that chainsaw of his really well."

"...If you hadn't have her pin down like a dog and had her life in your hands, I would've called you a fool."

Bob chuckled. He was at last getting somewhere.

"Believe me, I've had my fair share of "powerful" opponents that I've killed. Remember, Adam, all the power in the world cannot guarantee of you not getting shived in the back by some common cutthroat."

"That we can agree on. I have to ask...", Adam continued,"What is the purpose of you talking to me? What do you hope to accomplish?"

Bob playfully spun around in his chair, uttering a loud 'hm' like he was thinking of something to say. The chair came to a sudden stop, in the same position as it started from. Bob then spoke:

"When I see you, Adam, I see someone who does the dirty work, to do the things others cannot do but must be done regardless. Neither right, nor wrong - but always somewhere in the middle, gray area. Anyone can say what they want, but the fact is that Ghira Belladonna's attempts to peacefully help the faunus did not work - but your attempts, violent as they may be, helped your people. It was the only thing you could do at the moment."

"...Does it get better? For the faunus?"

Bob's mask hid the small smile. But he knew that he wasn't finished yet.

"I don't know. Maybe, maybe not? However it ends, you must remain true to your cause, your goal...the goal of the _faunus_ people...Tell me, did you know Tukson?"

Adam stoic nature melted a bit, a change present in his tone.

"I did. He was a high-ranking officer of the Vale branch. He was opposed to working with Torchwick, so he left and-."

"Opened a bookstore, that part I know. But what I don't know is - did he leave, or did he escaped, like Blake?"

"...No, he resigned his position and left. He made his choice, but we understood his reasons nonetheless."

With that, Bob knew that Adam was actually oblivious to his comrades fate. Much as he hated seeing it that way, this may be the thing to ultimately separate Adam completely from Salem's group.

"He was murdered, by Emerald and Mercury."

Somehow, deep down, Adam knew that Bob was telling the truth. Quiet rage was slowly building inside him towards his former _allies,_ but a small part of it was targeted at himself for letting them do whatever they want with the White Fang that came to trust him for guidance.

"...I see."

"Well, now you know who you've been working with."

"Oh, I knew who I've been working with. But this...this crosses the line. They will die, even if it is the last thing I do."

"Unfortunately, that is a bit impossible right now - no Aura, weapons, Semblances or general violence among the guests here, remember? But nothing stops you from doing that once your world is fixed, you know?"

"Then I will deal with them when the time comes."

A pregnant pause fell between the two masked men. Both of them were staring at each other, waiting for each other to speak up first.

It was Adam, who broke the ice, much to Bob's relief.

"I...admit, I made some decisions, decisions that I now regret...There are things that I did that I cannot justify withing the borders of reason, that I see now."

"Hey, power can be one helluva drug, and it's always hard to get off it once you had a taste of it."

"You make a sound point, but...I let my infatuation with a cowardly traitor blind me, knock me off my true path. I put behind the needs of the many to focus on my own selfish goals. I made a promise to myself never to do that...and yet I broke that promise so easily."

Adam let out a laugh, a genuine laugh...perhaps a first one in so many years.

"Was this supposed to be some kind of therapy session?"

"Well," Bob chuckled,"I prefer this being the talk where I knock some sense into ya."

"Perhaps it was something that was long overdue."

"It sure was."

Another pause fell, but was quickly broken by Bob who said:

"I don't think you need that mask anymore."

Adam was surprised by that statement. He responded with:

"And why is that?"

"Well, if you plan to start anew, then you gotta let go of some past things. And don't waste my time by saying it's too late for you - it's bullshit, no pun intended, and you know it. Besides, there's so much edge I can take in one session, and I think I reached my limit for now."

"You already know what's behind it, don't you?"

Bob nodded, and Adam removed his mask, a thing that defined him to the very core, in front of a human no less.

The SDC logo was clear as day on Adam's face, stretching from the brows to the nose bridge, permanently disabling the eye that had the reddish-grey color compared to his natural sky blue eye color.

"Huh...For a supposed civilized businessman, Jacques sure does act like a complete animal to those who work under him."

 _'Not that he's treating his own children any better, but that's a story for another time...'_

Adam looked straight into Bob's eyes and said:

"Then you understand why I had to make them pay."

"I do. They provoked you, beat you and branded you like cattle - safe to say, they asked for it."

Taurus almost didn't expect such an answer from him, as he probably expected a lecture on how there is always another way...something Blake liked to preach about a lot. He responded with:

"Ghira...had good intentions, but he failed to realize that one can't fight for something while being afraid of hurting or getting hurt."

"Heh, wouldn't I know. Welp, since you showed me yours, might as well show you mine, heh."

Before Adam could say anything, Bob placed both of his hands on his head and slowly removed the hairy skull mask.

Safe to say, Adam was a bit...stunned by what he was seeing now.

"You...you have the..."

"I do, yes. Got it as soon as I stepped into that world...it was a bit hard at first, and I almost lost my nerves a few times, but I eventually came to accept it as a part of me."

Bob stood up from his chair and put his mask back on. He then shuffled through his pockets until he pulled out a black eye patch and offered it to Adam.

"Wanna take it?"

Adam took the eye patch and placed it on his face, effectively hiding the brand completely.

"Don't mistake this as not accepting the...part of myself. I simply don't want pity from others. I've had enough of it for a lifetime."

"Yeah, me too. People generally forget that thinking about a problem doesn't solve the problem itself- you gotta work towards a solution too."

Adam glanced at the mask in his hands. As he was looking at the details of it, the eye slits, his mind went through countless of thoughts - the decisions he made, the decisions he was going to make...

"You know, I was kinda expecting for you to be a bit more, uh..."

"Unreasonable? Stubborn?" Adam finished Bob's sentence.

"Yep. C'mon, you can't blame me for it. But hey, glad that the old Adam Taurus is still alive and kicking."

Adam looked at him contemptibly after the last word, almost as if Bob was...

"I didn't mean it like that, and you know it."

Of course, if Adam had his sword beside him, he would've been prone to a more radical reaction - and both of them knew it. Yet, Bob didn't seem to care about that at all.

It was strange to Adam, how carefree Bob was, despite the brand he bore, one that was even worse than his own, for at least Adam could live a normal life...if he had the strength to do so.

"We got some time to kill before we have to go...wanna continue this little _therapy session_ as you'd call it?"

Adam smirked. He genuinely smirked for the first time in perhaps years.

"Why not?"

* * *

Few minutes had passed since Bob left the room. The same amount of time has passed since Adam Taurus mysteriously disappeared, along with his chair.

Ruby didn't know what was going on exactly. She patted Zwei on the back as she recalled all the things Blake said about him after the battle of Haven. Taking into account that he was the one who crippled Yang, Ruby naturally thought that Adam was a genuinely bad person...perhaps even worse than Torchwick, and that's saying something.

Zwei licked her hand as Ruby wondered - what is Bob doing with him? It was not that difficult to connect the dots that Bob had something to do with Adam's disappearance. Her sister wasn't very discreet about her wishing that Bob may have removed Adam from the audience...' _permanently_ '.

Blake, on the other hand, was actually worried about that possibility. Not for Adam's sake, per se, as he burned most of the bridges he had with her.

What she really worried about was Bob himself. She saw how he ' _handled_ ' Cinder, and the dark energy that manifested in his hand, and how that same energy was dangerously close to the woman. If he decided then and there, Blake knew that Cinder would've probably died in the most agonizing way possible.

She knew that not because of the scene itself. She knew it because she saw in Bob's eyes - it was the same look Adam would have whenever he'd lose himself in the heat of battle. The same malicious bloodthirst...

It scared her.

One more minute passed before a hidden door slid down in the right corner of the room, the same exact door Bob and the others he chosen used when they were practicing for their performance. Bob came out, and behind him was Adam...without his mask.

In it's place he had a black eye patch that covered the...'scar' he had. But the most prominent thing Blake noticed was Adam's expression, and his eyes.

Gone was the smugness and spite, and in their place were...some sort of conviction and even somberness that Adam once had whenever Blake scolded him about his actions. When he was willing to listen, of course.

 _'Something happened between those two...Did-did Bob tell him something, or...?'_

"Well, you took your sweet time." Roman commented, breaking through Blake's thoughts.

"Sorry not sorry." Bob plainly responded.

Adam walked besides Bob and went straight towards the Grey seats...where a new chair popped out as if out of thin air next to Raven's.

But he paused before sitting down, and looked straight into Blake's eyes.

Blake, on her side, didn't know what to expect. She didn't have to wait too long in the end:

"It's over."

...

Two words.

It only took two simple words for Adam to feel completely relieved, as if something heavy was crushing him...and for Blake to be left confused and...even a bit proud?

Yang, on the other hand, looked anything but that.

"' _It's over_ '? You-you think you can just say that and be done...just like that?!" to which Adam sternly responded:

"This between me and Blake - it does not concern you."

"Bullshit! She's my friend, my teammate, and you - you took my arm when I was protecting her!"

And at that moment...Bob let out his own little gem:

"If you call that little attack of yours _'protecting_ ', then you should probably scratch off being a bodyguard on your potential job list."

"What did you say now?" Yang stood up and slowly crept towards Bob, despite the worried glares of her teammates. Even Qrow and Tai were ready to stand up on the first sign of trouble.

Though it was debatable if they could do anything in their current aura-less state.

"Got motor oil in your ears? I ain't repeating myself."

"Scratch that - what did you do with this psycho anyway? And how come he went to sit with Torchwick and Raven instead with all the rest of those bastards, huh?"

On the one side, Bob really wanted to shove it to Yang and say that it's none of her damn business.

 _'But that just wouldn't be fun, now would it?'_

"Nothing much, really - we just talked about how Blake is a shitty person in general." Bob said in a mocking, happy way. He didn't miss the cracking of knuckles as Yang got even closer to Bob. The host was just a little bit taller than the blonde brawler, but so was Junior who is even taller than him.

"Say that again, I dare you."

Her eyes would've flashed red in anger...if she still had her Semblance.

"You don't get it, do you blondie? Blake, if she was as a good friend as you think she is, should've pushed harder to change Adam's mind on how to do things in the Fang...if she really cared about it in the first place."

Ghira was about to tell the skull-wearing boy a piece of his mind, but he stopped when he felt Kali's hands on his arm, telling him to stop. He noticed that Bob's words did struck a chord in her, but his wife didn't want either him or her to escalate the heated situation.

"But she took the easy way and ran. She also ran when she and Weiss got into an argument. She ALSO ran when lost your arm ' _protecting_ ' her. Let's not mention how she abandoned her parents when they left the Fang after realizing what was becoming of it, and even with that Ghira and Kali still accepted her back with welcome, loving arms."

With each Bob's sentence, Blake felt more and more shame weighing down on her - because all of it was true, even if for some it did sound like Bob rubbing salt into old wounds.

She never really did look back and re-think her decisions, never really tried to fight back against her... _habit_ to run away from her problems and her past.

Someone once told her that the past eventually catches up to all. Blake wished she heeded those words much, much earlier.

"Now, lemme ask you something..." now it was Bob who got closer to Yang, his mask only inches away from her face.

"What's the guarantee that she won't abandon you again?"

Yang's response? Her strongest right hook in the face and a crack that accompanied it.

"YANG!"

She, however, ignored the pleas of her friends and family, and was very surprised that Bob hasn't flew across the room. His head was merely titled in the direction where the punch went.

 _'Oh, right - no Aura. Fuck.'_

Bob slowly turned his head towards Yang. He rested his hand on his neck before bending it on the left, making an audible pop. Bob then spoke in a calm, almost polite tone:

"The first one was a freebie. Make the second one count, 'cause you won't get a third one." His eyeholes glowed with blood-red light to emphasize the last part of his sentence.

The blonde brawler backed down a bit, remembering just what Bob did with Cinder when the woman _spoke_ against him.

With no choice left, Yang grunted and went back to her seat, still eyeing Bob with an irritated look.

Bob straightened his shirt a bit and started speaking in his jovial tone, as if the moment ago never happened:

"The atmosphere in this room is a bit...toxic, don't you think? Well, I believe that the good way to solve all the anger and the sadness here...is comedy!" He paused before continuing shortly,"Well, not for the people who are actually angry and sad, but the people like us that have to fucking deal with them all the time."

Tai couldn't help himself but to snort at that.

 _'Dude's absolutely right about that one, I'll give him that.'_

Yang, on the other hand, was still angry - but the joke managed to mellow it out a bit.

"Alright, now, for a main role, we're featuring someone who isn't currently present here...it's your brother, Weiss."

The ex-heiress raised an eyebrow at that.

"Whitley?" she asked.

"Well, unless Jacques had other illegitimate children, then yes - it is Whitley. It's him, but he's a, well, a little different from the person you think you know."

Weiss was about to question the last part of his sentence, but her sister spoke first:

"Different...how?"

"Different in a way where Whitley rebelled against his father, almost in a similar manner as you."

With that, Bob knew that he got both Weiss' and Winter's interest in it now.

While Weiss knew(or thought she knew) her brother as future replica of their father, Winter never really gave her younger brother much attention compared to Weiss.

It was one of the things that, the more she thought about it, the more she realized was a critical error. So she pushed the thought aside during her military training - it would've been a hindrance otherwise.

She could imagine her father digging his claws in Whitley, 'properly' grooming him for a position of power that would serve their family's fortune and name.

 _'And the name wasn't even his to begin with...'_

"So, ladies and gentlemen, let's get started, shall we?" Bob spoke as he moved away from the flickering screen.

 **The scene opened with a very, very large close-up of Whitley's face. Dude was so close to the camera that his entire face was a bit blurry.**

 **Speaking of Whitley, the guy was currently in his twenties or so - gone was the slicked short cut hair, in it's place was a more relaxed, longer style with a beard in the package as well.**

The Schnee sisters were visibly surprised at how...rugged their brother looked like. Sure, he looked older, but to see Whitley not being perfectly shaved or even sporting a finely trimmed moustache like their father seemed...weird. Very, VERY weird.

And judging by the room and his overall appearance, this Whitley Schnee wasn't as financially secure as the Remnant one.

"Is that you lil' bro?! He looks kinda old..." Nora squinted at the screen, to which Ren replied:

"Perhaps everyone is older there."

"Right on the money, Renny! 4 years, give or take a few months." Bob stated

Yang, on the other hand, looked a bit closer and was...well, she smirked:

"Not gonna lie, Ice Queen, your bro looks kinda ho-"

"Finish that sentence, Yang, and I will kick you in the shin." coldly stated Weiss.

 **"Wassup guys, it's ya boy Jizz Pump, here we get the semen rollin' all over the place with this hentai review we're about to watch, shiet."**

None laughed harder than Taiyang, Sun, Mercury and Roman, with others giggling to death or adopting expressions of utter shock and disgust.

While Winter was confused, and rightfully so due to a simple reason of not seeing her brother in a while, Weiss was the part of the "shocked expression" group. Sure, her brother looked several years older, but this kind of complete personality change is something she'd never expect...

 _'Is...is this what he meant when he said that Whitley would've been different without Father's influence?'_

"Yo, Weiss, your brother looks all kinds of fun! Come to think of it, you never mentioned him, like ever!" Yang noted, jolting Weiss from her train of thought.

"Yeah, Weiss - you always talked about Winter but never about Whitely!" Ruby added.

"It's Whitley, and no - I...well, uh..." Weiss stammered, and was really at loss of words.

"You completely forgot about him, didn't you? That's pretty cold, even from you." Jaune said to her. The heiress rose her finger and opened her mouth to give a counter argument...which she had none. She ignored some disappointed looks from her friends and continued watching...

Until Roman decided to lift the mood up for a moment, but not because he cares or something like that!

It's because sappy stuff makes him want to vomit.

"Well, never knew that a Schnee would end up reviewing Mistralian cartoon porn out of all things!"

"Wait, so THAT's hentai?!"

"Red, I'm surprised that...on the second thought, I'm frankly not surprised you don't know about it."

 **Whitley walked around with the camera in hand and spoke again, this time sounding like a normal human being:**

 **"Not hentai review. Uh, Dustube keeps fucking RAPING me because they think it's funny when a dude who obeys the guidelines completely - censors his content all the way through, you know how it is, uh, and they think it's okay to anally rape me with these community strikes saying I break the guidelines. And I'm like '** _ **I don't break them, you dumb bitch**_ **' and they are like '** _ **shit, it's our website son, gotta go**_ **'. And I'm like '** _ **dayum, shiet**_ **'..."**

"Oh, so it's just regular Mistral cartoons." Torchwick added.

"Hey, don't call anime ' _Mistral cartoons_ '!"

Ren thew himself in the mix and said:

"Nora, both anime and cartoons are technically the same thing, they're just different by style. He's not wrong there."

Nora, of course, tried to fight back. But she found no words for her defense, so she backed away and pouted.

"Dustube the internet platform? It's, like, for videos and stuff, isn't it?" Sun stated, to which Ruby continued:

"Why do they punish him if he didn't do anything bad?"

"It's not rare to see that happen, since Dustube's been pushing "family friendly" content on their site to get more advertisers. But if you're a part of a big company that brings them a lot of money, then you can pretty much get away with anything. I'd guess Whitley here has a channel with a small amount of subscribers - if what he says is true, I kinda feel sorry for the guy." spoke Taiyang. Qrow turned and looked at him.

"You really have a lot of free time, doncha?" Qrow said to him.

 **He chuckled a bit, and added:**

 **"So we're gonna watch some anime. Ahem, it'll still be ecchi though, promise." Whitley then began waving his hand in front of his face as if he was a gangster rapper and said,"Let's get into this shit, boi. Let's get into this shit boi - you like how retarded I'm being?"**

"Would you blame me if I said yes?" Mercury casually stated.

 **[The opening scene starts with a very loud sound of a light switch turning on, showing a serious-looking glasses-wearing grey haired boy properly dressed in a student uniform. He was also fiddling a doll's hair.**

 **A happy-sounding violin track started playing as the boy's attention turned from the doll and towards the camera in front of him.**

 **"Hello everyone. Well, I am Eishiro Sugata, resident genius."**

 **The camera focused on the doll as Eishiro described her:**

 **"This here is my assistant, Pretty."**

"Uh, creep alert anyone?"

"Yang! Don't be mean!"

 **The resident genius used the doll's feet to click Enter on the keyboard of a laptop, showing a computer-generated round that represented the world of Remnant. What stuck out as a sore thumb was a massive black hole that was slowly moving from Atlas and towards the direction where Mistral was.**

 **"Look here. There appears to be some type of anomalous hole orbiting Remnant." Eishiro spoke as multiple windows of information popped at the sides of the screen.**

 **"Scientists around the world have been working together to solve the mystery of it's origin. They even dropped monitoring devices into the anomaly, but haven't settled on any logical conclusion. But you see, their hypothesis is flawed because they're grounded in reality. As I'm sure you're aware of, the first humans that discovered Dust...]**

 **The scene was abruptly cut to an image of Whitley, sitting next to the monitor where the anime was played, covering his face with his hands, as if he's frustrated or something.**

 **"Shut the fuck up."**

 **It was the former.**

Ruby pouted and yelled out:

"Language!"

The Schnee sisters were surprised once again by their brothers...colorfully expanded vocabulary. Both Weiss and Winter realized that they should probably expect this to be a common reccurence.

Glynda, while being annoyed by the Schnee's lack of speech discipline, knew that he didn't sputter out the curse without merit.

 **"I've had it up to here with all these anime's and hentai's explaining shit to me like I'm a fucking retard. How about instead of looking directly at the camera explaining the plot - you show it to me."**

 **His voice then went a few pitches higher, as if he was talking to a baby with several mental disabilities.**

 **"Why don't-** _ **why don't you fucking show us a little bit? Would you like to show me?**_ **"**

"Profanities aside, he does make a good case. The exposition with the boy started to become uninteresting." Oobleck noted, Ozpin following suite:

"The 'show, don't tell' rule is something rarely seen in today's media, unfortunately. I fully agree with Mr. Schnee on this."

 **He took a moment to compose himself and added, in his normal pitch this time:**

 **"So, uh, to all of you Mistralian people who made this and who make anime that do this, uh, you deserve another Grimm attack on you."**

 **Cut the scene to a burning Mistralian village where a pack of Grimm were either chasing the horrified townsfolk, or mercilessly mauling them apart.**

The utter shock of the baffled majority of the audience (the ones in the Light seats, that is) was the hysterical laughter of several men who found that joke very funny. Those being Taiyang, Roman, Tyrian and Mercury.

And Neo too, but it was more a visual cue since she's, well, mute.

Some even looked a little bit upset, the oh-so cheerful Nora being one. Ren on the other hand was...confused. He knew what Whitley said was terribly wrong and he should feel offended due to him being an actual survivor of a Grimm attack.

And yet, he somehow found that inappropriate joke kinda funny too.

 **The visage of terror and despair was abruptly cut to Whitley and him saying:**

 **"That was a joke, please don't get, uh...heh, shit." Whitley paused a bit to not laugh.**

 **"Don't get like heated over that, cuz, it's - it's a joke. Shit, I don't want Mistralian people to die - why would I? Teh, over this?", he pointed towards the desktop and innocently responded,"Yeah, but like, who cares?"**

"Oh Gods, he's not even apologizing properly..." Weiss facepalmed in shame.

"H-hey, at least he admits that he's only joking, right?" Jaune nervously added.

 **[The scene opened with a pigeon standing on the roof of a traditional Mistralian building. A second pigeon joined it soon and both birds gazed into the dawn.**

 **"Tomo, come on!"**

 **It quickly transitioned to a half-awake boy who was being shaken around in his bed.**

 **"Would you get up already? We're gonna be late for school!" the girl said as she continued shaking Tomo, trying to force him to get up, which didn't provide any results at all.**

 **"Mm, 5 more minutes, mmm..."**

 **Sora blushed(for reasons unknown). Deciding enough is enough, she yelled:**

 **"Oh for crying out loud, get up!"**

 **She pulled up the blanket, to see something so shocking, so appaling that her eyes widened and her cheeks reddened up.**

 **Her scream was what jolted Tomoki out of his sleep-induced delirium. He quickly said:**

 **"Sora, what's wrong?"**

 **What was wrong was the fact that Sora was now looking at a full blown erection that was being held down by Tomoki's pajamas.]**

"And that's how we Jimmy here got his nick-" Qrow's sentence was cut short by James placing a hand on his shoulder and lightly squeezing it. Granted, all the augmentations he previously had were gone and now had real flesh & blood limbs, but the old crow still felt all the strength of the Atlas army commander.

"Qrow... you know that I respect you as a friend, and whatever I may say about your habits, I also respect you as a fellow Huntsman. But do repeat that...joke again, and I. Will. Hurt you. Understood?"

Qrow simply obliged with the request. For now.

 **Whitley put his hands up his head as if he was defending himself from an oncoming attack. He spoke in a child-like way:**

 **"** _ **Oh, oh I'm so sorry Dustube. I'm so sorry that there was a penis in my video. Uh, is it okay if it's already covered in clothes? Not just clothes, even light just to have more censorship?**_ **" Whitley emphasized as he showed the streak of white light that covered the top half of the erection.**

"It looks reasonable enough. I mean, the show itself isn't really appropriate since it caters to a more adult audience, but that looks-" Kali's sentence was cut off by Whitley's on the screen who added:

 **"** _ **Or how about I just pixelate it too? Will that be okay to have on my video?**_ **" the image was heavily pixelated, even some of the pixels reaching parts of his face.**

"Oh boy, I know where this is going..." commented Tai, while the kids looked a bit confused to what Whitley was doing.

 **"** _ **Or what if I black it out also? Would that be okay to have on my video, Dustube please?**_ **" True to his words, Whitley did put a black square that covered roughly 90% of the whole screen - and not just the desktop, the WHOLE screen.**

"Okay, now that's just a bit too much!" protested Yang.

"Yeah! Why does Dustube make him do this - it makes no sense!" added Nora, to which Tai replied:

"Heh, that's Dustube for ya - either get enough clout to make your own rules or conform and hope that the big boss is in a good mood."

"Kinda like working under Salem!" Bob commented, to which the Queen herself looked on him with a raised brow.

"Why're you looking at me like that? You know it's true."

Salem simply ignored the statement altogether, though it didn't stop Tyrian from imagining the worst possible ways to slice Bob up.

 **"** _ **Can you not take me down today?**_ _ **Can we please have a friendship here? I want to be your friend**_ **...FUCK YO-"**

 **The last part got cut as Whitley went back to his normal persona once again and said:**

 **"Just kidding! I love you, I'm one of your creators. And I love Dustube so much, heh...heh."**

"So the Schnee here is kinda in an abusive relationship with Dustube, isn't he?" Ilia noted.

"Where the abuser is the one you're living with. Rough isn't it?" Bob nodded.

Ilia herself had a bit of a hard time empathizing with a Schnee out of all people. But she was smart enough not to project her hate towards the SDC to someone who is aligned to them by name only.

She was better than that. Now, at least.

 **"By the way, you have this video, uh, already up. You already have Dustube's videos with this exact scene."**

 **The screen then showed the show's official channel on Dustube.**

"Wait, what?! That an unfair double standard there! How can they do this in the first place?!" the aggravated tone came from Blake, clearly being irritated by the blatant disrespect Dustube had towards Whitley's channel.

"Things like this often happen in real life too, Miss Belladonna. Or were all those years in the White Fang ended up being a waste of time?" mocked Watts. The Belladonnas (and Adam) gave him a contemptive look and decided to ultimately ignore him.

 **"You know, so...uh, it's not like you can take me down without taking them down, right-?"**

 **Wfhgfyv wlvhm'g lyvb rg'h ldm uzri fhv klorxb rm uzeli lu ozitv xlnkzmrvh zh dvoo zh fmpmldm lmvh uli nlmvgzib ivzhlmh. R xzm'g urtsg z olhrmt yzggov zmbnliv. Rg wizrmh nb evib yvrmt. Yfg R droo pvvk urtsgrmt uli blf, zmw uli blfi irtsg gl dzgxs jfzorgb xlmgvmg gszg lyvbh zoo gsv tfrwvormvh zmw kizxgrxvh uzri fhv, vevm ru Wfhgfyv gsvnhvoevh ulitlg dszg gsvb vevm ziv zmbnliv. Ru R szw z hzb rm gsv nzggvi, gsvm R'w gvoo Wfhgfyv gl tl zmw vzg z wrxp.**

 **Whitley gasped for breath after the fast forwarded sequence ended.**

...

"What-what was that?"

Oobleck adjusted his glasses and provided a theory:

"It seems to be a code of some kind. However, I cannot decipher the code without references, and it went too fast to memorize the whole sequence."

"Well, I guess we'll never know for sure..." Bob playfully spoke.

 **He looked straight at the camera and desperately pleaded:**

 **"Please...spare me. Just this once."**

 **[Tomoki uttered a confused 'huh' before looking down to his crotch...]**

 **"Look at those legs, oof! Oof!" A fast image of Sora's back side of her legs flashed briefly.**

 **"I love me some legs. All the shoutouts to Il-BLEEP. Just kidding, she doesn't want me to shout her out. But shout out to her, love her legs - oof!"**

Ilia was caught off guard with that. She personally never found herself to be attractive or something like that, so she took a quick look at her legs, to see if the Schnee(out of all people) has a point.

She also noticed two blondes also staring at her legs.

"Yep, Weiss' lil' bro is right, you do have nice legs!" Yang whistled

"Gotta agree. Heh, I saw that they can change in color too!" Sun added.

"Oh really?".

"Can you two stop staring at me like that?!"

 **"Legs, love'em. Anime legs too. Wooh!"Whitley yelped and raised his hands for every single cry,"Wooh!"**

"Did you see that?!" Ruby yelped, pointing at the screen.

"Kinda. He put it in the last few frames, but I think I saw someone's face..." Jaune mumbled. Yang added:

"Betcha it was Cinder's face while constipated."

"And I'll guarantee it will be your expression when I get my hands on you." Cinder replied.

 **"Legs." He pointed towards his screen where Sora's legs were shown,"Look at those legs guys, thic, phew. Love me some thic, heh, shit..." He turned towards the screen, but looked at the camera one more time and asked:**

 **"Uh, can we keep watching, please?"**

 **["NOOOOOOOO!" Sora screamed as she karate-chopped Tomoki across the face. The show thought it'd be a good idea to show a man karate chopping the upper half of a glass bottle for some reason.]**

 **"Oh, mhm! That was beautiful!" Whitley said as he kissed his fingers in the same way a chef does.**

 **"That transition into the glass bottle being broken when she slapped his face, and was like...his penis, I don't know. I thought it was cool. Didn't you guys think it was cool? I thought it was cool..."**

"Nah, it was kinda lame." Nora noted.

"I think he was being sarcastic there..." Sun silently commented.

 **[The next scene opened with a dazed Tomoki sporting several lumps on his head that seemed to stack on top of each other. He also had a few bandages placed on random parts of his head and hair.]**

 **"Hold on - pause, pause for a sec. What...can we just take a moment and discuss what the fuck this is?" he said, showing the unnatural looking lumps.**

 **"It's like a three - a caterpillar coming out of his head, and then a tumor on the other side. And then there's this bandage on a random part of his hair, and then one on the very tip of here,"showing the caterpillar lump,"but why not put one on there?" showing the tumor lump.**

"Wow. I can't believe I see someone pettier than Ice Queen. At the same time, I'm kinda not surprised it is her brother that beat her to it."

And while Winter decided to ignore Qrow's comment completely, Blake stepped in and said:

"I, uh, I can't really blame him. I mean, you have to have good consistency if you want to keep the story interesting and clear at the same time."

"Like Ninjas of Love, right?" Yang added, sporting a wide shark-like grin.

Blake paused for a moment to process what Yang was exactly doing. Ignoring the giggles from her parents, as well as Sun and the rest of her team, she simply said:

"Shut up, Yang."

 **"What is that for?" Whitley asked as he pointed the bandage on the hair.**

 **"And didn't-didn't she just slapped him in the face? Where did all this come from? I think you need to go to the hospital brother. I think there's something seriously wrong with you."**

Weiss couldn't help herself to not have a genuine laugh at her brother's comment. She wished that HER brother was somewhat like the Whitley on the screen.

 _'Well...Bob did say that this is the Whitley who had the amount of freedom Winter had. Maybe...'_

 **[Sora approached the dazed Tomoki with a glass of milk.**

 **"At least drink some milk before we head out." she said as she offered him the glass, which he took immediately.**

 **"Yeah, thanks."**

 **"And your tie is messed up! It doesn't matter how old you get, you still act like a child."]**

 **"What do you mean he acts like a child? You just gave him a glass of milk." Whitley paused, probably to process the stupidity of Sora's statement and her hypocrisy.**

 **"Who just drinks a glass of milk for breakfast? What is wrong with you?! No cereal? No cookies? No donuts? Just a glass of milk? And you told him to grow up? You gave it to him!"**

"YEAH! What kind of friend gives only milk without any cookies!? That-that's BLASPHEMY! I'd rather have Torchwick as my friend over Sora anytime! Not that I'd want to be friends with him, but yougetmypoint!"

Roman could only form a very sour smile at Ruby's statement and say:

"Gee, thanks Red, that _really_ moved me."

 **["Alright, let's get going." Tomoki said, locking the door behind him as he started walking with Sora next to him. An inspiring guitar tune started playing as the scene represented a small stream of water that ran through an aqueduct between a bunch of pretty flowers.**

 **"We live in Sarami city. It's a small town-]**

 _'I'm kinda getting bored here...'_ Yang thought. Looking at others, she could see that she wasn't alone in this one.

 **"More explanation and narration, thank you. Thank you for that one, heh...FUCK YOU!"**

 **[The show started switching scenes that depicted images of nature, the road, cars driving around, people doing stuff, aged old trees and other panoramic generic pictures that generally grace most animes out there.**

 **"Population is about 7000, and completely surrounded by mountains. It's nice. The town isn't known about anything in particular. If it was, it'd be the smile on the old farmer's face. Or maybe even the humongous 400 year old tree-"]**

 **"None of this shit comes into play later in the series, I've watched all of it. And, uh, all of this is just useless information that we don't need to know."**

"Then why give us all that if it's never going to be used in the first place?! Makes zero sense!" Jaune protested.

 **"It's like they're trying to...fill a runtime or something here with** **crap** **."**

"Quantity over quality, why am I not surprised?" Qrow noted.

 **Whitley's mouth formed into a baby-like smile.**

 _ **"Why don't you fill it with cool stuff, some story with some narrative here. Nah, let's just have them walk and explain the neighbourhood. Ho, that's fun."**_ **Whitley said in a cute-sy manner.**

 **"Should I explain the neighborhood in every one of my Dustube videos? Should I...," Whitley took the camera and rotated it around,"show my room and explain..."he stopped at the angle that showed the open bathroom. The lights in it were out, but there was a humongous mirror that partially reflected Whitley and his camera.**

 **"This here is my bathroom over here. That's where I take a shit, and, uh, I take pisses as well." Whitley quickly placed the camera back to his face.**

"TMI dude, TM-heheh." Neptune paused to laugh a bit before some of his teammates followed with him.

 **"Would you like it if I did that? No, you want to get straight into the action." Whitley however, rotated the camera again back to it's previous position.**

 **"Or maybe you would like to see where I throw up in my toilet. Would you like that guys? Can you even see me?" Whitley extended his arm and tilted on the side so that the mirror reflects him.**

 **"Hello?** _ **Hellow?**_ **"**

 **Whitley finally put the camera back in it's place, and it was evidently clear that he was serious now.**

 **"Give me story, alright? I'm not here to watch you explain your neighborhood to me, uh, I'm here to watch some cool anime story. Like some Fullmetal Alchemist."**

"Never heard of it. Is it any good?" Yang asked.

"One of the best. Don't be surprised if you hear some unknown names here and there, this Remnant kinda has a lower Grimm population." Bob replied, to which Oobleck quickly added with:

"Which resulted in bigger cultural enrichment. Fascinating!"

 **"Does he even explain in Fullmetal Alchemist his neighborhood? He better not have, or I'm gonna have to do roasting Fullmetal Alchemist as well. Maybe one day guys, who knows?" Whitley's face scrunched up and giggled as he snapped his fingers. He did it again.**

 **And again.**

 **And again.**

"Is that on repeat-?" Ruby question got cut short with Whitley saying:

 **"It's not even on repeat, I'm doing this over and over like a retard."**

"Well, that answers the question."

 **[Tomoki was now sleeping on his open notebook as he narrated:**

 **"I like to watch TV, eat, take a nap during class. The most perfect thing you can ask for is a thread of peace and quiet running through your life. Wouldn't you agree?"]**

"Man, this Tomoki dude is kinda..."

"Boring and bland?" Neo finished Sun's sentence as she showed the sign with her words on it.

"He's still a bit better than Eijiro, I guess." Pyrrha commented.

 **[A sudden flash of white light engulfed the screen as a feminine ethereal voice could be heard in the background:**

 **"Save me..."**

 **The white flash disappeared in a fog like manner, revealing Tomoki staring at a lit up sky. A beam of yellow light enveloped him as a girl's voice spoke once more:**

 **"The sky has me in it's grip."**

 **The source of the voice was a girl with big ass wings and blue hair that covered half of her face. The dream, from there, quickly ended in a flash as Sora was shaking Tomoki up.**

 **"Tomo, wake up! Wake up Tomoki, class is over if you haven't noticed...oh...you had that dream again, didn't you?"**

 **She knew because Tomoki was crying. The big boy wiped his tears away and said:**

 **"Oh great. Am I crying?"]**

 **"Why are you crying?" Whitley asked with a clear look of disgust written on his face.**

 **"Why are you crying, bitch? You a pussy? Who cries after they wake up from a dream? Or even a nightmare?"**

 **"I don't cry. The last time I cried when I woke up from a dream was when, uh, when I was a baby. And why would you even cry for this?" Whitley asked as he pointed his hand towards the screen, currently frozen in an image of Tomoki wiping his tears away.**

"I guess he is kinda right - that dream really wasn't something to cry about." Pyrrha continued Ren's sentence with:

"It's a cry for help...but it's just that. There's nothing remotely tragic about it."

 **"** _ **'The sky has me in it's grip.'**_ **So? Fuckin' do something bitch, don't tell me that the sky has you in it's grip. But this guy, ma boy Tomoki here is crying like a dumb bitch. I didn't even cry when Mistral got bombed in the Great War."**

 **Cue an explosion of atomic proportions.**

"Again with those Mistral jokes..." Glynda facepalmed as she silently muttered.

 **"I didn't even cry. I also wasn't even born, uh, I didn't need to explain that joke...but I did."**

 **And the smile fades to nothingness.**

 **["Look Tomoki, you've been having that dream ever since you were a little kid-"]**

 **"OOF!" Whitley yelped as the screen zoomed in on Sora's legs before getting back to him.**

Glynda sighed at the scene and stated:

"I understand that this is simply a fictional cartoon...but a skirt that length shouldn't be a part of any logical school uniform."

"Depends on what kind of school we're talking abo-"

"Don't push it, Taiyang."

 **"OOF! OOF! OOF!" he yelped again as he emphasized his point of attention with a hand gesture.**

 **"Y'all seeing what I'm seeing? Are y'all seeing what I'm seeing? Oof! OOF!"**

"OH GODS WHAT WAS THAT?!" Ruby screamed. This time however, she wasn't alone.

"I saw it too, and now can't unsee it for the rest of my life. Thanks Whitley." Jaune deadpanned.

Both Schnee sisters were somewhat annoyed by the picture her brother decided to put in the frame, simply because it was disgusting.

 **"Look at that, oh shit...fuck it, shiet, fuck this shit..."**

 **And at this moment, Whitley started pumping his fist up 'n' down with incredible speed. Probably to emphasize something.**

The aforementioned scene was greeted with expressions of disgust, cries of laughter and unamusement that, coincidentally, could be separated in three scalling age groups.

Quite a coincidence.

 **He breathed deep as if he was exhausted and said:**

 **"You know what I'm doing now guys? You know what I'm doing tonight?"**

"Brother, please don't..."

 **"I'm...bartending. I'm bartending tonight, gotta shake the drink and then you gotta pour it. I'm actually a bartender on the side, y'all didn't know that."**

Jaune put up an optimistic smile and said:

"Hey, it's not that bad. The guy's bartending! Sure, he could've presented it differently, but-"

 **"It also isn't true."**

"-And damn my big mouth."

 **[Suddenly a random schoolgirl announced:**

 **"Everyone come quick! Some moron is about to jump off the roof!"**

 **Tomoki stood there for a bit to process the information:**

 **"Jump of the roof?!" he exclaimed.]**

"Finally something exciting is about to happen!" Roman enthusiastically spoke, to which Weiss said:

"I think that if a potential death in an obviously light-hearted story is what actually captures the attention of the audience, then something is very, VERY wrong with your storytelling."

"Seriously, the only fun scenes are the ones where Whitley's in...and that's not even the anime itself." Neptune added.

 **[The scene transitioned to the resident genius looking at the horizon. He said:**

 **"The wind is good today, although I'm not exactly happy with the direction it's blowing."**

 **At the same time, a group of students has gathered below, looking right at Eishiro and holding their breath.**

 **"DON'T DO IT MAN! YOU'RE INSANE, YOU'LL DIE!"]**

 **"Ah gee, I sure hope so! So maybe I wouldn't have to watch you explain everything that is happening in the anime instead of...actually showing me in the anime."**

 **"So that's why you're gonna kill off this character, right? You actually want to start showing me things, cool things, instead of having this retard look at the camera and explain it to me."**

 **"Like what I'm doing."**

 **["Ummm, is someone gonna jump off the roof?"**

 **"Take a look." was a calm response Sora got as the student council president pointed at the glider set on the roof.**

 **"Shouldn't you be trying to stop him?!" Tomoki asked her, to which the purple-haired girl calmly(again) responded with:**

 **"I could ask him to come down, but he won't listen. I'll worry about it after he falls."**

 **"Could you be more irresponsible?! I mean, you're student council president, you gotta do something!"**

 **The anime went from regular drawing style to chibi one, where Prez pulled out several differently colored papers, and said:**

 **"If you're talking about insurance, I already bought a whole lot of it. Hundreds of thousands worth of life insurance, in fact."**

 **"Wow, that's a lot-"**

"Okay, that's actually kinda funny." Sun spoke, sporting a chuckle with it.

"Sure, sure, but how long did we had to wait for that one joke?" Qrow countered.

 **Tomoki wasn't having it, it seems:**

 **"Don't you stand there looking all impressed! C'mon Prez, aren't you two like childhood friends or something? Shouldn't you show just a tiniest bit of consideration-?"**

 **"Are you suggesting I'm not worried about him in the slightest?" She cut him off pretty quickly.**

 **"N-no...that's not..."**

 **"Are you suggesting that I believe it might not be such a bad thing to watch my dear friend plummet to his death-"]**

 **"I actually forgot how funny this anime was. Um, it's pretty funny, you should go watch it. I recommend it." Whitley said with a thumbs up.**

"Uh, what?"

Most of the cast was caught by surprise

"Sarcasm module detected in Whitley Schnee's speech pattern!" Penny chimed.

 **"So that way I'm being a good boy, um, not copyright infringing over here, um, using fair use but also, uh, being good to the creators who made so they won't get mad at me that I'm using it. Cuz, you know how Mistral is with their copyright."**

 **"Nintendo? Heh, how about - go fuck yourself?"**

"Lemme guess - it's a butthurt company that doesn't like fair use?" Mercury asked.

"Yep - half of your money of your videos is sucked out dry if you use a few seconds of their music."

"Half? For a small part?! That's completely unfair!" Ruby protested.

"True - the world is not fair, you noticed." Bob responded and gave a thumbs up to the girl.

Pyrrha couldn't disagree with the last statement - she remembered how her own agents weren't very...polite towards an artist who drew a couple of her portraits. She'd personally give the person a go and encourage him to publish, but ultimately she had no say in it.

It was one of the reasons why she was more than happy to escape from all that and go to a school.

 **"Anyways, know that I'm recommending your anime to my viewers so you don't have to be like - '** _ **This guy is stealing**_ **'. No I'm not."**

 **"Yeah, anyways - I'm being good." Whitley finished, showing the anime on his desktop with his hand.**

 **The pose lasted a bit longer than anybody would prefer.**

"Totally not forced." Emerald commented.

 **[The anime suddenly transitioned to a scene with Eishiro, Tomoki and Sora in the room from the very beginning of the show. Eishiro was sitting in front of a computer while Tomoki and Sora were looking at him. Tomoki looked like he didn't want to be here in the first place.**

 **Kinda like the audience watching this pile of shit.**

 **Then the resident genius, who was actually playing with his doll, opened up his yap:**

 **"I understand every word of your concerns. Many intelligent people believe dreams to be electrical signals your brain sends out when processing memories-"**

 **"In other words, your desires or your memories become your dreams when you sleep-"**

 **"But that's nothing more than a hypothesis grounded in reality. And you can't explain the unreal using real terms-"**

 **The cut dialogues then went towards the laptop screen where the black hole was currently orbiting above Mistral.**

 **"You know what that is? Of course you don't. Because you already concluded that you don't know-"**

Ozpin found it quite amusing that both a professor and a student of beacon, Peter and Ms. Valkyrie, fell asleep, if the loud snoozes and snot bubbles going up and down wasn't much of an indication.

And while Port simply laid back on the chair with his face looking up the ceiling, Nora used Ren's shoulder as a pillow. He didn't mind it.

 **"There are scientists who spent years researching this and have yet to figure out a slightest thing about it. But I understand it. I know exactly the true nature behind this hole. And of course...I also know what your dream means."**

 **This got Tomoki's attention.**

 **Suddenly, the anime went full Yu-Gi...**

 _ **Wait, I can't use that as comparison?**_

 _ **Then how the fuck am I supposed to explain how the scenes unfold and transition in the anime? '**_ _ **Suddenly the background turns black and his body glides back as he continues explaining unnecessary shit'**_ _ **?**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Come to think of it, that sounds way better than what I had in mind.**_

 _ **Now, where was I?**_

 **"Both of them are part of a whol-"]**

 **"Alright, I know I just recommended it, but...GOD. GOD, I could...I could KILL myself with all the information you're trying to pour on me here." Whitley said with a maniacal grin spread across his cheeks.**

Both Port and Nora jolted from their short-lived sleep and were clearly excited to see Whitley back again on the big screen.

 **"I'm not even 7 minutes into your anime and you've given me 2 information dumps that I really don't give a shit about! Cuz you haven't shown me anything interesting yet. A few jokes maybe, but...I'm not even interested in your lore yet and you've already giving it all to me. I don't give a shit about that!"**

"I would honestly go through Port's class rather than watch this anime for real. No offense, Professor."

"None taken, Mr. Arc. I'm glad to see you value your classes!"

Jaune scratched his head and wondered if the ol' moustache will ever understand the context of his sentence.

Probably not.

 **"I wasn't even interested in the Lord of the Rings until after 3 three-hour long movies, and THEN I was like:'** _ **Okay, maybe I'd like to know the lore a little bit more**_ **'.**

 **Whitley paused for a moment, gritting his teeth in frustration before proceeding:**

 **"How about you learn...to tell a story there, Mistral? Okay, all of Mistral who suck at telling stories?"**

"Okay, now that's just a bit..."

 **"Just kidding, that was such a joke! I'm not racist, I'm just racially picky, is what we would call it in Atlas."**

 **Whitley moved out of the camera to have a good, genuine laugh at that.**

Ghira stopped his sentence to let out a laugh. He then simply accepted that the young Schnee boy won't stop with the inappropriate jokes.

 **[** _ **I'm honestly sick of retelling what happens in the room as the anime itself is so fucking boring(and these parts really don't matter in the end, they really don't), so here's an abridged version.**_

 _ **The resident retard makes a plan for all of them to go to a specific location where the black hole would be, which is coincidentally near their town, while Tomoki ranted like a little crying chibi bitch he is, but ultimately gets ignored.**_

 _ **Because he's a little chibi bitch.**_

 _ **So he ends up waiting beside a tree, and(surprise!) no one came there instead of him. The big black hole wasn't even there. Dude waited for quite some time and was a bit upset, so he finally decided to just go home.**_

 _ **But he suddenly got a call from the resident retard, who told him:**_

 **"Get the hell out of there! You're in danger!"**

 **Tomoki got a sudden unknown urge to look up and saw the infamous big black hole...and a small ball of light from it coming straight at him.**

 **The ball of light crashed mere inches away from him, and the resulting explosion knocked Tomoki back a few dozen feet away.]**

 **"How did you survive the explosive impact of what looked like a meteor, crashing right in front of the ground in front of you and destroying parts of the earth while you fly back with...a little to no damage?"**

"Aura maybe?" Oscar asked, to which Glynda responded:

"There would've been a reactive glow on his body as is when anyone takes a particularly heavy damaging hit."

"So...anime logic?" Yang proposed.

 **"Maybe like a little bit of scratch on your face, but...not even any dust on your uniform, just some scratches on your face."**

 **Whitley took a sharp breath as he gathered all his might to compose himself and seethe the inner rage within him. He then said:**

 **"I understand that this is anime and everything is exaggerated, but...now there's no stakes. Anywhere. Because our-our main character here just survived a meteor impact right in front of him...and didn't die. He's invincible."**

"Yeah, he kinda has a point there - it kills any kind of suspension from the show." Yang said.

 **"Any other time in the future, if he gets attack which WILL happen because I've seen it, um, I won't fucking care. That's the issue I'm having."**

 **Whitley's face then scrunched up and his voice went to a higher pitch as he said:**

 **"** _ **B-But who cares, it's anime, who cares?! Right? Is...is that the thing we say when we watch anime? Who cares? Heheheheh, who cares?! Heheheh..."**_

 **[Tomoki quickly recovered (what a surprise) and went towards the impact of the meteor crash.**

 **When the smoke cleared a bit, the first thing Tomoki saw from the crater was a pair big, perfectly round shaped breasts - like full cleavage exposed and just enough clothing to cover the nips.**

 _ **You know what I'm talking about.**_

 **Tomoki was shocked from the view, and said to himself:**

 **"Oh no! It's a person!"]**

 **"So our character here looks to identify what that explosive impact was caused by, and..."**

 **Whitley looked towards his desktop, which was paused on the scene of the reveal of juicy anime boobies.**

The scene divided the audience into three types of people - the one's who were embarrassed by the scene, the ones who grinned and giggled at it and the ones who looked completely bored and annoyed.

 **"You can see what the primary motive of the writers was here...We don't see her face first, any wounds she may have, we see..."**

 **The whole screen was now showing the badonkadonks.**

 **"I'm not complaining. I'm just...sayin'. Not complaining. I like 'em. Shit, it's all I gotta say."**

 **Whitley twitched in surprise when he heard a scream of pain coming from somewhere in his room.**

The room burst out with laughter at that.

"The timing, hah, was impeccable!" the Belladonna matriarch spoke between laughs.

 **[** _ **Gonna just fast forward this little tidbit, since again - I'm sick of writing this shit and I just want to get to the interesting Whitley parts.**_

 _ **So after standing a few moments like a complete moron, the smoke cleared out enough for Tomoki to see that the girl who fell out of the sky had a weird white outfit...and a pair of large, glowing wings.**_

 _ **And like the little bitch he is, he made the choice of running away while somehow dodging the oncoming masses of rock falling from the sky.**_

 _ **The little bitch stopped in his tracks, thinking about whether or not he should save her:**_

 **'She'll be fine, I'm sure of it! The chick fell out of the friggin' sky without a scratch on her!"]**

 **"Why does that matter? You survived the explosive impact of what it looked like a meteor landing right in front of you - without a scratch on you."**

"He's right - I mean you, who's supposed to be a regular Joe, survived something that all of us would probably get heavily injured, is thinking about someone who fell out of the sky with no wounds, even though falling from heights and objects falling directly on you are two completely different scenarios!" Weiss criticised in her ' _judge mode_ ', as Ruby would call it.

 **"So why does it matter if she doesn't have a scratch on her? In this universe, no one has scratches on them when met with harm. So..."**

"This phrase doesn't even make any sense!"

 **"This phrase doesn't even make any sense."**

"Jinx!" Yang said, only earning an eye roll from Weiss.

 **[** _ **The screen went into a close shot of the unconscious angel chick-thing and remained like that for solid 3 seconds(for some stupid fucking reason) until it switched towards Tomoki who, surprise, actually went back to help her!**_

 _ **Tomoki put her arm over his shoulder and carried her as he tried to climb out of the crater while mumbling about his boring lifestyle.**_

 _ **Suddenly he noticed a piece of rock that was falling directly on his position. And as every character who was about to face imminent death, he shut his eyes and screamed like a biatch.**_

 _ **And lo and behold, a pair of white shiny wings engulfed the screen that had a pitch black background for some another stupid fucking reason, and you guessed it - the girl woke up and flied away from danger while carrying Tomoki in her arms.**_

 _ **Tomoki opened his eyes and saw that he was in the air, and turned around to see the weird ass girl as some generic tropical resort-like music kicked in.**_ **]**

 **"Oh! Thank you for waking up at the exact moment RIGHT before he was gonna SUPPOSEDLY die, even though...you know, we don't know if they die in this universe, but yeah - thank you, that was mighty convenient. EXTREMELY convenient! "**

"Honestly - who even cares at this point? I just hope that I don't have to see that garbage of an anime ever again." Mercury spoke.

 **"I wonder how many more of this conveniences will happen in the future where they will build up all of this excitement to a climax of where someone may die and it's just like** _ **'oh, convenience here'**_ **!"**

 **"** _ **'Oh hellow, I see your story needs some convenience, here ya go'**_ **" Whitley mimicked a hand gesture of giving a bag full of conveniences,"** _ **'There's some convenience for your shitty storytelling there.'**_ **Oh thank you, I was writing myself into a corner and didn't know what happened.** _ **'Aw, it's okay, just use some convenience.'"**_

 **"** _ **'Deus ex machina, who cares? Who cares what happens in your story, just keep those characters alive!'**_ **"**

"Aheh, trigger warning." Bob mumbled, earning a few confused 'what's' before seeing...

 **The scene cut to Pyrrha gasping for breath as a black arrow struck her and was burried in her chest.**

Bob never thought himself a bad person - he would describe himself as a jackass with a heart of gold. He met a lot of bad people here and there, and those encounters would usually ended with the aforementioned bad people laying dead at his boots.

But he couldn't help himself to feel a little evil (not mistaken for guilty, of course) for grinning madly behind his mask when he saw the hurt, shocked faces of the former Beacon students, professors, headmasters and parents. Some of them were clearly angry at the scene - but it's not like Bob intentionally set up to show them this particular scene. Not at all.

He did notice others in the grey and black seats. While Raven looked...well, like Raven, Bob noticed a little twinge of sympathy from Roman Torchwick himself. Neo looked disinterested, so Bob guessed that even she has some lines she won't cross. Bob saw that Adam was feeling a little bit guilty, considering that he did take a major part in the fall of Beacon, if a silent sigh was to be taken as guilt.

The black seats were the most interesting, since he noticed Cinder having a sly grin on her face - perhaps from her being reminded of her most memorable kill. Emerald looked a bit surprised at the appearance of the scene, while Mercury looked like he didn't care at all.

Tyrian had a big, satisfied smile on his face (obviously), both Salem and Watts looked pretty disinterested with the whole shocking scene, while Hazel looked a bit...disappointed?

 _'Huh...well, I guess the big guy genuinely doesn't like unnecessary murder. Then again, he did try to kill a kid.'_

 **"Just kidding! That. NEVER. Happened." Whitley's tone took a surprising serious tone.**

 **"Anyway, who cares about this anime - it doesn't take itself seriously, who fucking cares? Part two? Some other day, maybe never, I don't know. Come with me." Whitley took the camera from the stand and started walking around with it. He then added:**

 **"So, uh, thank you for watching. I kinda do recommend this anime - a lot of stupid shit happens in it, but it's funny so it's okay, I guess." He placed the camera on a carpeted floor and leaned so close to it that the whole screen went black.**

 **"See ya again, toodles, heheh!"**

...

Bob sees how the room went quiet after the video ended - it felt awkward, to say the least. It was kinda pissing him off too.

Pyrrha, on the other hand, obviously felt very, VERY uncomfortable seeing her own death on screen, much less everyone else seeing it too.

She still remembers the searing pain in her chest when Cinder fired the arrow on her. It burned like she was being boiled from the inside out. She couldn't breathe, even though she gasped for breath in a panicked attempt to put out the fire inside.

She deceived herself by thinking she was ready to meet her end. She remembered the moment she started to burn from the inside, that all her conviction and will was replaced by the instinct to survive, even though it was too late.

She now knew that Cinder, that...that bitch made sure she'd die a painful death. And even though she would never admit it and was ashamed to even think of it, but... if an opportunity would present itself to end Cinder Fall, Pyrrha Nikos would gladly take it with interest. Being labeled as a bad person can't compare to the last moments of searing pain coursing through her entire being, and that is something she owes to the woman in the red dress.

Suddenly, Bob spoke up with:

"Well, you know what they say - it's all fun and games until some kid dies..."

Pyrrha jolted her head towards where the masked host was standing-

"Then it's hilarious."

Jaune couldn't believe what he heard now. Damn the fact that Bob could probably kill him with that weird hand of his, he won't let some stranger to disrespect his g...teammate.

Or he would have if he didn't hear Pyrrha's slow giggles that went into a full blown laugh.

"Oh...my Bob, heh, that was...that was absolutely, hah-horrible!" Pyrrha murmured between laughs.

"But it was funny, wasn't it?"

Jaune then realized the awkward moment of being offended when the one who was the target of the joke doesn't mind it in the first place.

"That was still a poor joke." Ren calmly stated.

"Bah, live a little - Pyrrha and Penny are alive! Might as well use all ' _I thought you were dead' jokes_ ' and have some fun." Bob countered.

Roman popped out and said:

"And what am I, chopped liver? I'm _hurt_."

"Nah dude, you're the guy who lies, steals, cheats and sur-OHGODI'MBEINGEATENALIIIIIIVE!"

And while Roman did have a laugh at that, Neo on the other hand went to Bob and promptly kicked him in the shin.

"Argh, fuck me! Motherf-" Bob cursed as he held his leg and started jumping off the stinging pain, all while Neo smiled as she sat back in her seat.

"Language!" Ruby scolded, to which Bob responded first with a grunt and then with clearing his throat.

"Aheh, since we resolved around joking at the expense of the former dead, let's move on to Whitley's second clip!"

"Eh, sure - it's fun enough." Taiyang noted, to which almost everyone could agree too, more or less.

 **The video started with Whitley sitting in front of the computer and looking towards the camera. The desktop was turned on and had a title "Cherry & Gals" on it.**

 **"Hello everyone, and welcome to another "anime" review." Whitley quoted.**

"Err, why did he quote that?" a confused Oscar asked.

"Well maybe because what he has for us in store isn't really an anime..." Blake murmured, clearly enough to be heard.

 **"It is night time right now in Mantle, so I'll be a little bit quieter today. It's night time, so my roommate is asleep, my girlfriend and sisters are asleep, their teammates are asleep - everyone in the apartment is pretty much asleep."**

"So we... live with him in an... apartment?" Weiss asked.

"Must be one big apartment." Jaune added.

"Forget that, I wanna know who's the girlfriend Weissy's bro is talking about!" is what said Yang, much to the Bob's joy. Why?

Good question.

 **"So we're gonna be a little quiet. I'm not gonna yell in your ear or anything like that. So today we're going to be watching Cherry & Gals. It is an "anime" that is about a sister who rapes her prepubescent brother with her friend!"**

Que multiple variations of disgust and revulsion on the faces of, well - pretty much everyone.

"But-but why? WHY? WHO WOULD MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THIS?! It's disgusting!" Ruby protested, clearly being repugnant by the summary of the "anime".

Bob, however, thought of something else:

'Well, I can't really disagree with ya - statutory rape is kinda worse than tentacles, now that you think about it...'

 **Whitley smiled as he stared into the camera...**

"Look at his face tho - guy's completely dead inside." Tai said and laughed shortly after.

 **[A cutesy tone played as the colorful title appeared on a blank background, with a heavily accented pronunciation of the title.**

 **"Cherry & Gals!"**

 **The title cut to a scene of a generic Mistralian suburban house. Knocking could be heard inside the house.**

 **"Kei-chan! I'm coming"]**

"This is what I don't understand - why do they make anime in old Mistralian language? I mean, Vytalian is the most common language that everyone speaks, so why make anything in a language that other continents don't speak?" Jaune asked, to which Pyrrha responded with:

"I did meet a few of the creators of animes in Mistral and they said that it, well, it sounded cooler. That, and the voice acting is much easier in that language. Probably because nobody else outside of Mistral understands it."

 **[The door in the house opened, revealing a blue haired prepubescent Kei who was probably studying.**

 **"Ah, w-welcome home, nee-chan."]**

"5 seconds in and I already think I'm gonna vomit." Roman commented.

 **[The camera turned around to show the very, VERY busty sister in her school uniform, all with a pink bowtie.]**

"My, I didn't know Merlot was performing THESE kinds of experiments." Ozpin joked, in hopes of lessening the shock of the inevitable.

 **["I brought Ruruna-chan with me."**

 **A blonde, cheerful girl with equally large bust appeared behind the sister.**

 **"Yo, it's been a while!"**

 **"Ruruna-chan!" Kei spoke in surprise.**

 **The scene cut to the sister, who bluntly said:**

 **"Kei-chan, we're gonna have sex. Take your clothes off."**

 **Which proceeded into both the sister and Ruruna jacking off a naked Kei. Luckily, Whitley was sane enough to show only the eager faces of the girls and the blushing face of Kei.]**

But even with that, it couldn't stop the groans, some even screams, of disgust. It was clear that the audience were quite repulsed by the whole scene.

Nothing else now could bring a smile to Bob's face more than this.

 **The screen then switched to Whitley, who had a maniacal grin of someone who was going through agony and suffering.**

Some of the disgusted started laughing at the screen. Weiss couldn't help herself but laugh a little at her brother going through all of this, while Winter wasn't sure if she should laugh too or feel sorry for the slowly decreasing sanity of Whitley's mind.

 **The image of Whitley's insane expression quickly went to black as a mournful military tune played in the background. A few words and a very familiar image soon popped out, all while the tune was still playing.**

 **In loving memory of:**

 **The Nuckelavee**

 **And then Whitley yelled:**

 **"Just FUCKING KIDDING!"**

"Oh Gods, hehehAHAHAHAHA!"

And with that, Nora and Ren finally broke and didn't even mind that.

 **A blank space with a comment replaced the obituary, which Whitley read in his most creepy voice:**

 **"These big titty waifus look like they're 10 years old and it makes me so hard"**

But before anyone could say anything about that...

 **"VSS, OPEN UP!"**

 **Cue the squad of heavily armored and armed police bursting down the doors of some house and all hell breaking loose on the screen as various images of police and riots began appearing for a good few seconds before going back to the comment that had a reply to it:**

 **"That's disgusting, please kill yourself."**

"Couldn't agree more." Mercury said.

 **And then we're back with Whitley who still had that insane look on his face.**

 **"That's all the mental stamina I have for today..." he spoke. He waved his hand and said his goodbye to the audience:**

 **"Toodles!"**

...

"That was a blast." Qrow put both of his arms on the back of his head.

"It was fun. Even with that joke, Whitley sure knows how to entertain...and offend." Blake commented.

"I'm glad you liked it! In fact, this won't be the last time we'll see Whitley's reviews, many more are to come in the near future! Now..."

Bob pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket and, as far as the audience knew, was reading something on it.

"Oh yes..." He whispered to himself,"I think this will be fine, hehehehea boi..."

* * *

 **Inspired by: MamaMad's(MamaMax) reviews of "Heaven's Lost Property" & "Cherry & Gals"**

 **I got Max's blessing to do his videos, and yes - I will be doing even more of his work in future chapters. It won't be every chapter in a row - maybe, I dunno, every 4-5-6 chapters? Who knows.**

 **The plot thickens and it begs the question - has Adam Taurus turned into a normal, better person for good? How will this impact the future of Remnant?**

 **Also, kudos to ones who manage to figure out the encoded message Whitley said AS WELL as two references I put here. Whoever finds all of this out first gets nothing.**

 **And to stave off the confusion, old Mistralian is Remnant's version of Japanese, while Vytalian is English.**

 **Rooster Teeth sucks at detailed world building, even with their WoR videos.**

 **Anyway, SNEAK PEAK time!**

"NO, please! I didn't mean no harm! I didn't mean no harm!"

"Harm?! I'll show you harm..."

Zip

"LOOK AT THIS DICK!"

"AH!"

 **\\[T]/**


	7. A Tai in the Limelight

**Ima lazy piece of shiet who just finished his college assignments and now has the time to actually write stuff. But I don't use my time for that. Instead I play Tekken fucking 7, Skyrim (for which I have 250+mods and constantly have to check for conflicts) and other stuff that you don't really give a shiet about.**

 **Since I have to justify this lateness and laziness with something, I decided to publish the OLD chapters of the Dimensional Cinema. The ones I deleted them because they conflicted with the plot of Vol.6? Yeah, those ones.**

 **Reason being so that you can have fun in comparing the technical quality of each chapter.**

 **And to be clear, I'm not really happy with this chapter, and I fear you may actually feel that. Though the last bits I worked on were a lot of fun, and so they did rejuvenate my writing juices. You'll see what I mean.  
**

 **Anyway, off to review response!**

 **Colt Cobra : In the words of a wise man knows as Wheelz - _'Get outta here boi, get that weak shit outta here.'_**

 **StrongGuy159 : Here it is. Will I be asking much If I wanted for you to say something other than that?**

 **Guest(Jul 18th)** **: I actually stole the reference from MamaMax, but it's okay since he gave me the go. Wuv ya Max.**

 **Snowballs FF : Thanks for the bade. But mate, you kinda disappoint me for your initial lack of Youtube knowledge. Ah well, no is perfect, amirite? At least now you know. As for you second question - not really, don't expect anyone else from other stories. Funny that you mention Remnant Inferis though, I beta-d several chapters of that fic.**

 **Midnight49 : Lemme help ya there - both references are from Coeur's stories, the tentacle one being from "White Sheep" while the VSS coming from "In the Kingdom's Service". Check'em out, they're pretty good. Also, expect more Max in the future since I personally enjoy writing him.  
**

 **Greer123 : Thank you!**

 **King-of-Gods : *Sigh* Thanks man, but for the love of Allah, READ THE GODDAMN SUMMARY. And no, I won't do Naruto. Never. Just because of you. Happy?**

 **BowmanW : I've sent you a little PM with a detailed explanation of, well, pretty much every 'argument' you had there against me. To this day you haven't responded - I wonder why? Anyway, if you really think that suggesting where the flow of the plot should go is 'criticism' while ignoring the fact that I ask for criticism and feedback regarding the technical aspects, character behavior and overall representation of the story which are my legitimate weak spots (and is a one of the reasons why I'm in college) then you might wanna rethink on how you decide to argue with me without looking like an accusing dum-dum.**

 **Kids, keep your profiles clean and piss-free if you don't want them to be used against you. They tell a lot about the person behind it.**

 **NexusPrime42 : You guessed it right. Good job. I'm proud of you.**

 **Kool Plaid Man : Well, since most of the reaction fics are overfilled with DBZ stuff (which myself I couldn't give two flying fucks about) and other animes that I don't follow or care, I decided to go into uncharted territories. I mean, it is why I wanted to write this in the first place.**

 **Nihatclodra : Hope you liked the message. Interesting nick you have there.**

 **Sephyrum : Hope I won't disappoint then!**

 **Guest(Aug 28th) : Yep.**

 **ENDDRAGON369 : And I really hope I won't have to see your comment ever again. Go bother someone else.**

 **Sergeant Snash : Just the two cutscenes I had in mind - the best ones. Trust me, you'll love it.**

 **Guest(Aug 29th) : While you do have a point, know that in life, it's quite hard to reason with a very, VERY pissed off guy. And while I would suffer the consequences of my supposed reaction, know that people eventually do find out the whole story. And any normal person would say to you that while I may not be in the right for what I did and I should had self-control, the dude on the other side wasn't really less of an asshole than I for what I did.**

 **Victor John Foxfire : Mate, I am seriously beginning to doubt your intelligence - from how long you've been on this site, you should know that ffnet fucks up every 3rd party link that doesn't have the site's name in the prefix.**

 **Alrain : Trust me, if they lived on the little planet they created ala Ozma reincarnation way, they would definitely change their tune about that.**

 **Guest(Sep 3rd): No. Ask your mother.**

 **Guest(Sep 25th): Lookie at here guys, we got a badass with high standards who didn't even bother to read the story in detail. Oh well, to each his own.**

 **Onwards to the next chapter after fucking 4-5 months? Was it that long?**

* * *

"Heheheh..."

Even with all the chatter in between, Glynda could hear the faint sound of Bob's giggling as he fidgeted with something that was on the side of the big screen.

She was worried as to what Bob will show them now.

Oh, and spoiler alert - her worries were completely justified.

"Come on Weiss, you gotta introduce us to your bro!" Ruby nagged her teammate, who responded with:

"Ruby, I already told you that my brother in Remnant is absolutely NOTHING like Whitley we saw earlier", Weiss then directly looked at her teammate, who was using the good ol' cute puppy eyes trick - and the Schnee immediately knew that there was no point in arguing about the matter anymore:

"...But I'll see if we can visit him when we arrive in Atlas. Just know that my brother thinks of you as savages - he doesn't think of the Huntsman profession so highly."

"Savages? Oh, I'm gonna show him what's a savage..." Yang muttered in a sultry-like so that she could tease Weiss and not be loud enough to be heard by her dad.

What she did not take in account was that her dear host could hear pretty much everything in the room.

"Ah, so you're planning to sexually assault someone again, eh blondie?"

Taiyang decided to butt in before Yang could respond as he asked:

"Again? What do you mean by _again_?"

Bob briefly paused with tinkering the screen and asked:

"How much do you know about Yang's little visit to Junior's club?"

"Hm, I do know that she started a fight and won, along with trashing the club completely."

Yang now realized what Bob was talking about and was sweating bullets while trying to form an innocent smile on her face.

"She grabbed a dude by the balls. No provocation from his side whatsoever, just straight up, or well, straight _down_ to his crotch and grabbed his sacks."

Tai could only look at his daughter with disappointment in his eyes. Yang, of course, said this:

"I mean, it's not a big deal, right?! I just-"

"It is a _'big deal'_ , Ms. Xiao-Long. What you did WAS sexual assault." Glynda sternly added.

"But he was a criminal!" Yang protested.

"Oh, so we criminals aren't human beings anymore, are we?" Roman asked, obviously in a sarcastic manner.

"No, I didn't mean like that!"

"Still sexual assault. You know, I can imagine you and the rest if yer team being stopped at the Atlas border." Bob stood up and turned to Yang's direction and added:

"Now, I bet my left nut that you'll think that you aren't allowed because Blakey here is a faunus. All while completely forgetting the fact that you assaulted a contestant at a Vytal festival match without any provocation from his side. Sounds familiar?"

"That was Emerald's semblance at work, and you know it!" Yang growled, gritting her teeth at him.

"Doesn't matter - general public doesn't know and probably doesn't care. That's what counts." Bob responded and continued to fiddle with the screen.

"And don't get mad at me - you have these two to be mad at. They're the ones who ruined your reputation!" Bob added, pointing at both Emerald and Mercury.

"Now..."

A sudden blast of light that came from the side of the cinema knocked Bob to the wall where he comically rag dolled all over the place, which took several people by surprise.

"Oh my, are you okay, friend Bob?"

Bob gets up by jumping from back to his feet and responds:

"Never better!"

"Bob, what did you even do to explode like that?!" Weiss asked, to which Bob plainly responded:

"Setting up Ultra HD," Bob immediately noticed a few deadpan stares at him,"Yeah, technical stuff was never my forte, BUT I think it should work!"

The cinema host went to his usual corner and announced:

"The main guy of these few short clips is Taiyang Xiao-Long. So, uh...enjoy!"

Now that got Tai's interest - on the one hand, Bob could show him as an utter badass (which he totally is, mind you) or he could show him as a wimpy idiot.

 _'Knowing him, I'd say it's gonna be both.'_ he thought. He looked at Yang, who was clearly still peeved about Bob's words.

Taiyang, however, was not going to help her - mainly because all the things Bob pointed out about her and her friends weren't exactly untrue to his knowledge. The way Yang reacted wasn't surprising.

She had her mother's temper alright.

He looked at Raven, who sported that same uninterested look she'd use to mask her true self. Again, not surprising.

What was surprising was that he found a small piece of paper in his pocket, which he opened off the views of everyone else.

BE READY IN 5 MINUTES

FOR A LITTLE CHAT

BOB uWu

 _'Chat, huh? What's he up to now?'_

The blonde man smiled at Ruby's obvious excitement as all of them were patiently waiting for the clip to play.

 **[I]**

 **The battle of the ages was about to commence...**

 **On the one side was the infamous super-powered fighter encased in black chitin-like armor and sporting the unhealthiest pale skin tone ever - Mr. Perfect Torch!**

"Well…green never was my preferred color, but I'll give it a pass here." Roman commented, to which Neo pulled a billboard with: "It looks kinda cool.", written on it.

 **Perfect Torch was had a confident smirk on his face as he was looking at the approaching man.**

 **This man wore basic brown leather pants and jacket that had a metal shoulder guard on his right sleeve. Beneath the jacket was an orange t-shirt that outlined the toned muscular structure of his torso.**

 **Taiyang Xiao-Long was giving off a very serious vibe - if you can judge by the stone-cold face.**

"Damn! Dad's dressed to impress!" Yang exclaimed.

"He reminds me a bit of that one super cool guy in a movie called Mad…Mad, uh…Mama Mad? No, that's not right, but I swear it start with an m…"

Bob had to use all his willpower not to laugh at Ruby's comment.

"Yeah, _sure_ – Beringels would fly before Taiyang ever became serious like that." Qrow added.

"Sorry Qrow, but I the only words I could hear was _'I'm super jealous and definitely cooler than Tai.'_ " Taiyang responded.

"I'm overjoyed to see that you two can still act like overgrown children." Said the mildly irritated Glynda.

 **"Oh goodie, it's...this guy!" Torch casually spoke.**

 **Taiyang stopped in his tracks, his eyes never leaving the sight of his opponent.**

 **"So then, Road Warrior - how can Mr. Perfect Torch help you?"**

 **The blonde fighter's response was the bone crunching sound of his cracking knuckles.**

"Means business alright!" Nora enthusiastically said.

 **"So, a man of few words. I can respect tha-"**

 **"Hey!"**

 **"O-Okay, just cut me off."**

 **"Bug-man." Tai said, to which Torch responded:**

 **"Homeless man."**

 **"The meat part of you, your muscles...Is that bug meat? Or man meat?"**

…

"What kind of question was that?!" Weiss yelled, with everyone around her completely baffled with the statement.

"I dunno, I mean for me it kinda sounds he wants to…eat him?" said Jaune.

"You don't say Captain Obvious! My question is – why Torchwick out of all people?" Yang asked. Blake responded with:

"Hungry people usually aren't picky of what they eat." To which Blake and Yang high-fived each other.

"Very funny." Roman dully stated.

 **Torch still had his confident smirk and was completely unfazed by the bizarre question.**

 **"Are we talking percentage? Because at LEAST 30 percent if we include-"**

 **"I don't care for man meat." Taiyang cut Roman off mid-sentence, which did not amuse the bug-like powerhouse.**

' _A subtle way to say no homo. Clever._ ' Qrow thought.

"How-Why is Torchwick okay with that question?!" now it was Ruby's time to ask.

"Well, Red, when you have my looks and charm…"

"Non-existent when it comes to you, Roman." Mercury interrupted, to which Roman added:

"Black, don't try to see yourself in other people – it makes you look sad."

Neo and Roman high-fived each other to that.

 **Roman looked quite annoyed by Tai's attitude, and said:**

 **"Look, you clearly got off at the wrong bus stop, so why don't you-"**

 **Roman was cut off once again as Tai's expression went from overly serious to extremely angry. He screamed in rage as his muscles expanded so much, they completely ripped his upper clothes to shreds.**

"Completely over the top- "

"And manly!" Port added to Winter's words.

 **"Okay, but why though?" Torch asked, completely baffled by what was in front of him.**

Nora laughed her ass off when she heard Torch's question, almost uncontrollably so.

 **Torch simply stood as Tai jumped towards him.**

 **"ATATATATATATATATATATATATA..." Tai exclaimed as he unleashed a flurry of pokes at Torch, who just took them all with a smirk.**

"Hey! That's a move from _The Punch of the West Comet_!" Jaune exclaimed.

"Wait, you have a show like that?" asked a confused Bob.

"Yep. My favorite from when I was a kid."

"It looks like he is poking him with such high velocity, well, for me at least. Does that move have a late effect of some sorts?" Pyrrha asked.

"It does alright. Safe to say…"

 **The moment he stopped his assault Tai went silent. The silence, however, was replaced by Torch's laugh as he mocked him:**

 **"My God, how did you know I was deathly allergic to TICKLING?"**

 **Tai coldly responded:**

 **"You're already** _ **dead**_ **."**

 **Torch was still laughing...**

"Torchwick is screwed." Jaune finished the sentence with a big smirk on his face.

 **Until he suddenly screamed in pain as his upper torso exploded into gibs, green blood and body parts.**

 **All while an epic beatdown music was playing in the background.**

"WHOA!"

"Cool!"

"EXPLOSION!"

"Ouch."

Were just a few out of many words the audience spoke when they witnessed such a magnificent scene.

Both Neo and Roman looked completely unimpressed, or at least tried to be.

 **The green blood sprayed all over Tai, whose stone-cold expression remained unfazed.**

 **However, Torch's upper body parts grew out of the stump of on his lower torso. Physically, Perfect Torch was somehow fine.**

"Nope. Not even that can stop him. Wish I'd have the same luck though…" Roman silently commented.

 **Mentally, however...**

 **"AUGH! GODS! DID ANYONE EVER TELL YOU YOU'RE ALREADY AN ASSHOLE?!"**

 **Taiyang ignored the question and pointed to the ground and said:**

 **"Are you going to...eat that?"**

"W-What?!"

"Why-why would he eat his own arm?!" a shocked Weiss asked, immediately followed by Ruby:

"Even Torchwick is not that twisted!"

 **The item he was pointing at was Torch's arm on the ground.**

 **"No. No, I am not." Torch angrily replied.**

"Again, why isn't he freaking out over that?!" Weiss asked again.

 **"Well...may I?"**

 **"Sure...Make it your last meal. Because after that you're DEAD!"**

 **"No. You are. Already.** _ **Again**_ **." Tai replied as Torch exploded in his face once more, accompanied by a painful shriek.**

…

"So, Dad is an awesome homeless martial artist…who also happens to be a half-cannibal."

"I'm not sure if half-cannibal is even an existing term." Blake commented to Ruby's statement.

"Sure, it is! I mean, Torchwick is half-bug and half, uh…" Ruby paused, lost on words and unable to formulate a smart enough sentence to back her claim up.

"If it has human-like sentience, then I believe it's straight-up cannibalism."

"What Ren said!" Nora added.

Everyone else turned to Taiyang, who was quiet during a big portion of the clip. He laid back on his chair and said:

"I'll take it – pros outweigh the cons here. It could be worse, right?"

And like a response to tempting faith, the screen lit up again…

 **[II]**

 **The moving camera showed a very exhausted Taiyang in his pajamas entering the bathroom. The man clearly just woke up, if him rubbing his hand all over his face and his half-closed eyes were an indication.**

" **Ungh…so tired…" Tai muttered as he stopped at the basin.**

 **Taiyang blindly rummaged around the basin just to grab a razor out of the two toothbrushes that were next to it, which would've been completely normal…**

 **If the guy didn't put toothpaste on the razor.**

"OH NO!"

"OH YES!"

Taiyang only facepalmed while most of the audience watched either with extreme glee or extreme horror (and cringe) on what was about to happen.

The blonde man did notice how Raven was smirking at the scene, which didn't really surprise him at all.

' _Of course, YOU'd find this funny…'_

 **Taiyang put the razor in his mouth and promptly started brushing for several seconds until he opened his eyes in a very, very painful realization.**

 **Unfortunately, the scene was cut the moment he opened his eyes as carefree music played. The scene was a black background with white words spelling:**

 **Taiyang goes to the hospital**

"Well, good thing that never actually happened! Right dad?" Yang smiled at her father, who suspiciously began to scratch his head. Qrow snickered at that while Ruby on the other hand adopted a look of worry and asked:

"Dad, please tell me that didn't happen…"

"Oh, it happened alright." Qrow added as he started laughing.

"No comment."

"Tai, you should've been more careful – I mean, I know it is ' _your thing'_ to make these kinds of errors, but- "

"No. Comment." Tai cut Port off.

"Well, I must say, Red's dad truly made me feel uncomfortable now." Roman said.

"And that's saying something." was written on Neo's signboard.

The images on the screen began to shift from a black background to a deck of a boat on the sea. The pitch-black darkness of the night was contrasted with the bright lights of the boat.

"Funny, this one's about you and Tai, Roman." Said Bob.

"Oh, and by the way – take my word for it and watch this without any regard for context. It doesn't matter the slightest, trust me." Added Bob, cutting any question Roman was about to ask. The thief simply made himself comfortable in his chair and watched the scene unfold with the rest of the guests.

 **[III]**

 **The scene transitioned into a close-up of Taiyang Xiao-Long, whose peculiar scars on his face and shaved blonde hair would make him almost unrecognizable.**

"Ahem, _Bob_ , pray tell – do you know what caused those… _peculiar_ scars on his face." Watts asked.

"By that timeline's story, lemme see…" Bob pulled a notebook from his pocket and started rapidly going through pages.

"Alright, from what I see here…" Bob stopped flipping pages and said," he was hit multiple times with a crowbar."

"Preposterous – if that were the case, he should be missing a few chunks of flesh! Not…is this a real timeline at all?" Watts suspiciously asked. Bob simply responded with:

"No comment."

 **Taiyang aimed down his Magnum on Roman Torchwick, who was running straight on the boat deck. The blonde man fired, hitting Roman and causing him to stumble on the ground.**

"Yep. Gonna die there, no doubt about it." Roman casually said. Ruby paid no mind to that, because her eyes were set on the gun her 'dad' was holding.

"Waitaminute, that's a Goliath Killer! THE Goliath Killer!" Ruby yelped.

"Goliath Killer?" Jaune asked.

"A super strong gas-powered revolver that can be loaded only with hardened Dust bullets. The recoil is strong enough to tear your shoulder in half, but a single shot is powerful enough to kill, well, a Goliath." Ruby sheepishly responded.

"Oh…" Jaune said, wondering what would've happened to his previous Aura-less past-self if he tried to shoot a beast like that.

"I do have to say that Taiyang here shot it with absolutely no recoil at all. Even for a full-grown man, such a gun would at least send him a step back." Port added.

"As I said, you gotta watch this without worrying about the context. Just take it at face value." said Bob.

 **Roman stumbled to get up on his feet as he looked at the man who was slowly approaching him.**

" **Tai, look…unh…Tai, please…"**

 **Tai grabbed him by the back of his vest and picked him up. The scene cut to Roman being pushed towards the edge of the boat and falling dangerously close to the edge.**

"What kind of transition is that?" Qrow questioned.

 **Roman managed to get up and said:**

" **Taiyang, look – I can explain…"**

" **You lied to me." Tai cut him off as he grabbed Roman by the neck. He put the barrel of the revolver on his stomach, but Roman still went on to defend himself:**

" **That wasn't the deal, she said to me- "**

 **BLAM!**

" **AAAargh! Tai, please…"**

" **You betrayed me!"**

 **BLAM!**

" **Argh…"**

" **You used me!"**

 **BLAM!**

" **Unh, hnnnnnghh…"**

Various snickers could be heard through the room, as everyone watched the sheer absurdity of the scene unfolded.

While Ruby did feel bad about someone who was going to get murdered on screen (even if that one was Torchwick), she simply couldn't help herself but giggle at the cheesiness of the whole scene.

"Wh-Why, hah, why did I moan like that?!" Roman asked through his laughing fit.

"It gets better. Watch this." Bob pointed.

 **The screen zoomed on Tai's face when he said:**

" **You fucked up my face."**

 **BLAM!**

Even Salem and Glynda, being the stone-cold women they are, put their hand on their mouth to suppress their laughs.

"Congratulations Dad, you somehow managed to be even edgier than uncle Qrow." Yang said through her snickering.

"Heh, you got that right!" Tai agreed, to which Qrow added:

"Definitely…wait, what do you mean by 'even edgier'-?"

 **The camera now zoomed in on Roman's stomach that was leaking blood. Interestingly enough, he didn't have any visible wounds whatsoever.**

"B-But that…that's a Goliath Killer revolver! His stomach should be literally tomato pasta sauce! This makes no sense!" Ruby protested.

"Looks like someone put a hose through his vest that spurts blood." Sun noted.

"Bob, is this a video game cutscene?" Jaune asked, which prompted Bob to turn to him and respond:

"Yep."

"Must be a horrible video game." Mercury said.

"The graphics at least look nice." Neptune added.

 **The scene then switched to Taiyang who has his back turned on a shivering Roman.**

" **And now…" Tai spoke.**

"Why does he have his back turned on him?" Emerald plainly asked.

"For drama, my dear thief. It's always the drama." Roman stated.

" **Tai, please…I-I can explain…" Roman murmured through the pain as his body grew stiffer and stiffer. Taiyang, however, wasn't giving him a chance to explain anything.**

" **You have my permission to die."**

 **With those words, Tai sharply turned to Roman and shot him in the head. Roman was dead the moment he was shot and fell into the sea. And with that, the scene ends.**

"Ah, so that's why Torchwick survived all those shots – he didn't have PERMISSION to die. Makes perfect sense." Sun noted, and then proceeded to hysterically laugh his ass off.

"Stupid and amusing is what I'd describe this to be." Winter plainly said.

"At least little Fall has a new one-liner to say before she kills Rose." Tyrian joked, which prompted Cinder to look at him with slight contempt, much to the deranged faunus' joy.

"Gotta agree with the creepy guy there, she is the kind of person to say something silly as that." Is what was written on Neo's poster board.

Cinder decided to go on the offensive.

"Really? I'd think it was more of Torchwick's forte for asinine theatrics."

"Well, I guess birds of a feather do flock together." Roman responded, following with a high five from Neo. Before anything further could occur, Bob stepped in between them and announced:

"Sorry to interrupt tho, but I do like to keep my schedules in order. So…"

With a snap of Bob's fingers, Tai's chair folded vertically, revealing a gaping bottomless hole in it's place…in which Taiyang was currently falling through.

"DAD!" Ruby yelled in worry. Not a second later the whole room heard a crashing sound of metal cans and an angry cat.

"Bob, what did you do?!"

"Don't worry Ruby – your dad's alive. Right Tai?"

"Yeah, yeah…could've warned me that you'd do this though." Taiyang replied from the hole.

"Sorry Tai, but I'm not Ozzy – not giving anyone a chance to prepare their ' _landing strategies'_." said Bob. The chair unfolded itself, closing the hole while Bob proceeded towards the hidden door in the wall.

"So, until Taiyang returns, we're going to watch a…happy little cartoon. Sounds good?"

Bob's suggestion was met with Nora's nod of approval as well as some eye rolls.

"I'll return once the show finishes, won't take long." He added as he went through the hidden door on the wall which immediately closed behind him.

With Bob's absence from the room, the screen lit up again…

 **[IV]**

 **A title reading "Remnant FAIL" appeared on a background of a generic terrain of grass and a lake in the distance. Not a second too long a familiar man wearing a black leather jacket with torn sleeves and a red bandana appeared from the ground.**

While Yang didn't bother to remember the names of all the mooks and goons she wasted in her many brawls, she instantly recognized the long dirty blonde hair and the sleazy unshaved look the man sported.

Raven simply raised an eyebrow – she was a little surprised that one of her own tribesmen appeared in a skit that was supposedly about her former husband.

" **Hey look guys!" Shay said before starting to shake his body in faux excitement.**

" **It's another Remnant parody!"**

 **The background darkened and the scene zoomed in on his face, which was completely toothless and adopted a very different texture.**

" **Because it hasn't been done before** **." Said Shay in an overly serious tone.**

"Oh boy, it's going to be a weird one, won't it?" Jaune sighed.

 **The scene returned to its previous look as Shay added.**

" **Today I'm gonna waste your time by building A- "**

" **HAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHhhhh…"**

 **This time, Shay's necked bulged so much that the veins were popped out; his eyes became bloodshot and his lack of lips showed his foaming teeth as he uttered the word.**

Safe to say, both Oscar and Ruby were slightly disturbed by the sight. Mercury, on the other side, was having the time of his life as he laughed like a maniac.

Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in irritation.

"Why does he look like he has rabies?" Blake asked.

"Maybe he does have rabies." Neptune added.

Roman decided to be snarky as usual and said:

"The question now is – who is more civilized? Is it the Branwen tribe, with their nomadic lifestyle of raping, pillaging and murdering every village they see? Or is us, with our electricity, clean water and internet – oh yes, it's us."

"Very funny for a dead man." Raven responded impassively.

 **The scene was abruptly cut and replaced by a shot of Shay in the distance in his 'normal' self.**

" **Let's get started now, shall we?" he cheerfully said.**

 **With a yelp of joy, Shay the Bandit managed to build himself a house, if you can call something made from sticks, mud, leaves and random 2x4's an acceptable living area.**

"I'll give him credit, at least he's resourceful." Ren said.

" **Ah, my house! It's…BEAUTIFUL!" Shay said, completely ignorant of a Boarbatusk that had a face of a mentally challenged person.**

"Oh no, it's gonna attack him!" Nora yelped.

"Yeah, what a shame…" Yang said in a totally not-sarcastic way. Nope. No sarcasm at all.

" **I sure hope nothing bad happens to it!" said Shay in an overly cheerful manor, clearly tempting fate as the Boarbatusk was getting closer and closer to him.**

 **But Shay looked behind him at the right moment the Boarbatusk was next to him and delivered a nasty cross to its face.**

"Now that's a nice punch!" Yang smiled, completely unaware of what's about to happen to the Grimm.

 **The Boarbatusk fell on the ground and turned to look at him with the most pathetic look that was silently begging for mercy. Shay, however, was having none of that as he put it in a chokehold, making the Grimm's eyes bulge out due to lack of air.**

" **You're not going anywhere, motherfucker!"**

 **Shay grabbed its tusk and slammed its head to the ground. He then proceeded to vent his anger on it as he punched it again, and again, and again…**

"That's…a bit excessive now." Pyrrha said, questioning Shay's use of force.

"Shouldn't there be other Grimm flocking on him now? The amount of negativity his anger carries is surely to be dangerous in the wilds." Oobleck said.

 **When Shay finally finished the beating, the Grimm started to slowly crawl, hoping to get away from the violent man.**

 **Shay, on the other hand, seemed to be still angry. His eye twitched, his teeth gritted, and his voice was now like a growling beast.**

" **You…You're trying to crawl away…"**

"Gee, if all of your bandits are this perceptive sis'…" noted Qrow, but didn't manage to finish as…

 **The scene now showed a view of the Boarbatusks unnaturally well-shaped buttocks, which Shay roughly grabbed as he said:**

" **BRING ME THAT ASS!"**

' _By the Gods, he's not going to…_ ' Ozpin thought as he watched the scene in horror of what it will become later.

"What is he doing?!" Weiss yelled out, shocked by the sudden turn of events.

Even Salem & Cinder now looked slightly disturbed, while Tyrian continued to watch with a glee of curiosity.

" **AAH! NO, PLEASE! I DIDN'T MEAN NO HARM," cried the Boarbatusk as he sniffled through his words," I DIDN'T MEAN NO HARM!"**

"IT CAN TALK?!" Ruby quipped.

"You know, something tells me that this won't be the weirdest thing we'll see." Mercury said.

' _Although it does increase the amount of guilt you're gonna feel at the end of this, heh.'_

" **Harm? I'll show you harm…' at the sound of a zipper, Shay's face contorted as he added, "LOOK AT THIS DICK!"**

" **AH!"**

The sheer look of horror at the realization of what this scene was about to become sent some internally panicking, some in self-denial and some in action.

"This is not happening, right? He's not gonna r-ra-?" blurted out Jaune, who was cut off by Weiss who said:

"By gods, he…he's going to do it!"

Both Ruby and Oscar covered their eyes, Ruby doing so with her cloak, while the others were simply glued to the screen and watched with disgust as the scene unfolded.

 **Shay's face adopted a different model, one with sweaty skin, shrunken down eyeballs and puffed up lips as he mumbled:**

" **Yes…and it's all for you."**

 **The Boarbatusk desperately panicked as it screamed out:**

" **NO, PLEASE! I MEANT NO HARM!"**

" **You were going to smash up my house, now I'm going to smash up your…PROSTATE!"**

 **The Boarbatusk's eyes bulged in shock with that statement for a moment before the Grimm took its last effort to get away.**

 **It was for nothing as Shay pierced it with a grunt and began thrusting to the screams of the Boarbatusk. A faint piano tune of sadness played in the background, overlapping with the screams and grunts of Shay and the Grimm.**

 **Shay doing the grunting and the Grimm doing the screaming, of course.**

"What are we watching anymore…?" Weiss hopelessly whispered to herself, holding her face in the palms of her hands. Ruby completely wrapped herself up in her cloak, and it didn't look like she was coming out of it anytime soon.

Oscar, being the youngest one, was the one who probably had it the hardest (in a mental way) as his lifeless eyes simply looked away from the screen.

' _Why Bob…?_ ' Yang thought in revolt.

Both the students and the adults sported their own unique expressions of utter disgust and dread, with Salem now having a pretty good cause to specifically exterminate Raven Branwen's tribe herself.

Raven herself looked…unimpressed. As if she was watching something utterly boring. Sure, it did pique her interest since it does include one of her own tribesmen, but beyond that, she was utterly bored.

' _What does this have to with Taiyang at all? Is this just for some petty shock-value?'_ Raven thought.

Adam simply continued watching, wondering why such a thing like this exists in the first place.

On the other hand, the Black Comedy Quartet (consisting of Roman, Neo, Tyrian & Mercury) had a field-day with this as they giggled and laughed all the way in. Mercury even fell off his chair, holding his stomach as he found the execution of someone raping the Grimm utterly hilarious.

 **With the final grunt & trust, Shay let the Boarbatusk fall on the ground as he walked back towards his little mud hut.**

 **Rain began to fall as the Boarbatusk shivered on the ground. The screen zoomed on its face, tears falling from its eyes.**

Nora cried with the poor Boarbatusk while Ren could only provide her a shoulder to cry on. Even Ghira held back some tears, which his wife noticed as she affectionately put a hand on his back.

 **The screen faded into black as credits started to roll with only two names on them that spelled:**

 **Animation by TAI**

 **Music by SUMMER**

"…What?" Yang uttered, which prompted Ruby to unveil herself from her cloak only to see the credits.

"Mom…and Dad made…that?" Ruby mumbled.

It was now Raven's turn to chuckle at that as she commented:

"Of course, both of them would've made something like this."

"That's not true! Right, uncle Qrow?" Yang retorted, only to see her uncle sighing at his sisters' statement.

"…Uncle Qrow?" Ruby asked.

"Don't ask, kiddos. Don't ask."

Yang and Ruby were only left with more questions than answers.

 **The scene opened with a saddened Boarbatusk looking at the ground.**

" **All this shame…"**

"There's more?!" said Blake.

"I mean…it can't get worse than this, can it?" Illia sheepishly suggested.

 **The Grimm looked at Shay and his house that now looked a little more decent with barrels of dust lying around it. By looking at its expression of desperate anger, one might deduct easily what it was about to do.**

" **You're coming with me!" The Grimm exclaimed as it started rapidly rolling towards Shay.**

" **Fuck you motherfuck- "**

" **What the-?"**

 **The Grimm collided with the Dust barrels, destroying the house completely and killing Shay, leaving only a smoking crater with Shay's guts sprawled all over it.**

"Is…is it over?" Oscar whispered.

"Yeah…good riddance." Jaune responded. Pyrrha sighed at the whole scene and spoke:

"Well, at least he didn't go unpunished for that…vile act."

Out of the blue, Bob jovially strolled towards the stage, catching Pyrrha of guard.

"Yo, why do you look all sad and stuff?"

"You know damn well why, you goddamn assho- "

"Hey, hey!", Bob interrupted Qrow," There are children here, dude. Swearing to a minimum." he said in the most condescending tone possible.

"Bob, consider yourself lucky that I don't have access to my Aura. Otherwise, I'd make sure your punishment was as prolonged. As. Possible." Glynda warned, yet her rigorous self-discipline contained the suppressed anger that was boiling inside her.

"…Well, not like I'd _really_ complain."

Port couldn't help but chuckle at Bob's comment, which served only as fuel to the fire that was Glynda's fuse.

"Okay, so! Taiyang won't be coming back for another like, uh…2 minutes?" Bob noticed how Ruby's eyes shone, and added, "Yeah, preparations took a bit longer than I imagined, but hey – plans fail, it happens. Anyway, here's something I think all of you will enjoy."

Without the time for anyone to protest or ask any further questions, Bob turned on the screen that showed…

 **[V]**

 **A black background with white words on it, spelling:**

 **TAIYANG X.L.**

" **IT'S TIME TO PARTY"**

"This looks promising!" Port quipped.

' _Dad in a music video? Can't be that bad, can it?'_ Yang thought as she continued watching.

 **A bright and a sunny day was in your average Vale neighborhood, the background noises of birds and the wind mixing with the radio chatter of a nearby police car that stopped a peculiar white vehicle. Or, more precisely, it's occupant.**

 **A very, very grumpy Taiyang Xiao-Long.**

"A-AHA-AHAHAHAHAHAH! LOOK-LOOK AT HIS FACE!" Yang screamed out laughing.

"Forget the face, look at his hair!" Qrow noted, and then started laughing on his own.

Ruby, while she did feel a little bad for laughing at her dad, she really couldn't contain herself.

Raven's only reaction was raising an eyebrow in curiosity.

 **The police officer slowly approached the car and ducked to look at Tai through the open window.**

" _Junior as a police officer_?" was written on Neo's sign.

"Not gonna lie, the shades really fit him." Roman commented.

 **A faint background guitar riff started playing and was getting louder and louder as Taiyang adopted angrier and angrier expressions until…**

 **The instrumental kicked in, Tai smiled in joy and started singing:**

 _ **It's time to party! Let's party!**_

 _ **Hang out with yourself and have a crazy party!**_

 **Taiyang started head-banging in the car while the police officer switched his clothes to be identical to Taiyangs – which were simple white t-shirt and white trousers.**

 **With a long, blonde wig under his police officer cap.**

"What-what just happened?" Ilia mumbled. Yang grinned hard and wide, feeling proud for what she was seeing on the screen.

"Something awesome." She responded.

 **The scene opened with Emerald putting dirty laundry in the washing machine when, suddenly, Taiyang appears before her who was sitting on it.**

"Huh?" Emerald muttered in confusion.

 **Taiyang gave her a loud 'Yeah!'. Emerald looked at him in suspicion. Taiyang began mumbling incoherently…**

 _ **Hey you! Let's party!**_

 _ **Have a killer party and party!**_

 **Which made Emerald cheer as she was in the identical outfit Taiyang was and started drinking bleach that he was pouring on her.**

"What." A baffled Emerald whispered.

That was enough to send Mercury rolling on the ground and bursting out like a maniac.

Cinder, on the other hand, continued watching in amusement – she would never admit it to herself, but deep down she did find it funny seeing a loyal subordinate of hers voluntarily drinking chemicals.

 **The next scene was a cash register in a supermarket where Cinder Fall was scanning the goods as usual. Not until she found a happy, smiling Taiyang standing on the cash register.**

 _ **Don't even try and deny it**_  
 _ **'Cause you're gonna have a party tonight!**_

 **With a smile, Cinder accepted her new outfit (and her new hair color) and proceeded to have some fun – mainly her being in a shopping cart while Taiyang drove her around the market.**

' _Well, that does look quite fun, heh._ ' Cinder thought with a smile.

"Wait, so that's Junior, Emerald and Cinder off, which means the next one is…" Nora held her sentence and waited…

 **A dentist' light shone on Hazel Rainart, who had his mouth opened by a metal prosthetic for a dental surgery.**

 **Only, instead of the dentist, it was Taiyang who pulled down his doctor's mask, showing his teeth-baring grin and holding an anesthetic syringe. At first Hazel looked clearly wary…**

 _ **And you know we're gonna do it tonight**_  
 _ **We're gonna lose it all**_  
 _ **When you open your door!**_

 **But when Tai pulled off the safety cap, all of Hazel's worries passed away, as he gladly accepted whatever Tai had in mind.**

 **He was also dressed like Tai, blonde wig included.**

 **While we couldn't see what exactly was happening, it was clear that Tai shoved the syringe in Hazel, who just flayed his arms like he was in a rock concert. Perhaps in his mind he was.**

"Aw, shucks. Thought it'd be Merc the jerk…" Nora wined.

"Merc the jerk, huh? I'll be stealing that, thank you very much." Responded the assassin.

No one really thought of the whole unsafe medical practice thing seriously due to the nature of the clip being a music video.

Hazel, on the other hand, was a bit weird-ed out by the scene on the screen. Not that he didn't like it or anything, but it looked a tad bit strange for him.

 **Next was Tyrian the hairdresser who was carefully combing Salem's hair. She looked at herself in the mirror only to see Taiyang under the hairdressing machine. His face was molded by a skin softening cream and had a pair of cucumbers on his eyes.**

 **The reason why she noticed him was because he was giving her the thumbs up. She was initially puzzled by the gesture, but when Tai removed the cucumbers…well:**

 _ **Party, party, there's gonna be a party tonight!**_

 **Both her and Tyrian were "Tai-fied" while Tai removed himself from the machine to show off the new afro her now had.**

"HAHAHAH, NOW IT'S EVEN WORSE!" Qrow laughed, obviously mocking Taiyang's hair.

Tyrian chuckled at the whole prospect of him combing the hair of his Queen, while Salem herself tried to look at the video with disinterest. But she had to admit, the man's antiques were somewhat entertaining.

 **Watts placed a golf ball on its tee and pulled out a fresh club from his bag. When he was about to hit the ball, he saw the most peculiar thing.**

 _ **Tension in my hand**_  
 _ **When you're standin' there**_

 **Which was a smiling Tai holding the golf tea in its mouth.**

"Oh my…" Ozpin muttered, knowing what was to come.

Watts watched curiously as he fiddled with his mustache though.

 **The now "Tai-fied" Watts had a large grin on his face as he swung the club.**

 _ **Not thinkin' anything**_  
 _ **It's time to party!**_

 **Que Tai getting up and spitting out the tee from his bloody mouth. The mad lad simply laughed.**

The disgraced Atlas scientist found the whole thing quite reminiscent of his school years where his peers (mostly spoiled children from rich families) would mostly spend their days in partying rather than actual studying which he found often infuriating when they distracted him with such irrelevant temporary experiences.

He chuckled at the scene before him. Watts didn't have any regrets in his academy years, but he did find this whole 'party' thing the blonde man was singing about a bit amusing.

"Nothing fazes him, huh?" James Ironwood smiled.

 **The public library is usually a quiet place where people go to either study in peace or spend time reading a book, which was what Merlot was looking for as he searched through the books on a nearby shelf.**

 **What he didn't expect was Tai looking from the other side of the shelf, which caught Merlot of guard. But as soon as Tai smiled at him and started rubbing his hands together, Merlot's change in clothes and hair meant that he became a part of the hive mind.**

 _ **Doing it fast, when you're doing it long**_  
 _ **Keep gettin' your money**_  
 _ **It's time to party!**_

 **And then they proceeded to tear several books to pieces.**

"Wait, that's illegal." Neptune plainly noted.

"You are correct, friend Neptune! Intentional destruction of books, or book mutilation is a punishable offense and it is urged by librarians all around the world not to commit such an offense due to loss of intellectual property as its primary consequence!" said Penny cheerfully.

Roman looked at the android with open faux disdain and muttered:

"Killjoys, these kids are."

 **The current location is now a gas station where an unaware Mercury was simply refueling his car…until he turned around to see Taiyang drinking from the gas hose.**

Most of the Beacon faculty joined their students in laughing at the sheer absurdity of the scene. More so at what was about to happen next:

 _ **Pounding on one, touchin' yourself**_  
 _ **It's not too late!**_  
 _ **It's time to party!**_

 **Mercury yelled out as he got "Tai-fied" and joined Tai in drinking gas from the fuel box.**

And while her colleagues were having a good time, Glynda's famous attention to detail didn't miss that last part of the lyric. But she had no intention to bring it up, because even Glynda Goodwitch herself wasn't fond of people who were nitpicky over trivial things. She'll let it slide.

' _This time.'_

 **The screen showed a wooden door of a house opening to a group of people dressed all in white clothes and shoes with long blonde wigs on their heads. The most peculiar thing was that they all had different smiles on their faces, and at the center of the group…**

 _ **Open your mouth, we're all gonna come**_  
 _ **In! Your! Face!**_

 **Was Taiyang Xiao-Long with the stupidest expression to ever exist.**

"That-That face is priceless!" Yang laughed out, not noticing the last lyric her dad sang.

Glynda noticed. Her only reaction was tapping her palm with her finger, knowing that Taiyang Xiao Long would never pull something like that in public.

And while Bob did perform that… 'bounce' song with the criminal duo and the android girl, Taiyang wouldn't have the courage to sing something like that live in front of her.

"Did…did he just sang a masturbation lyric?!"

Weiss also noticed and was quick to voice her disapproval. But since almost everyone was enjoying both the music and the video, nobody really cared.

 **The instrumental kicked into overdrive as waves upon waves of white-clothed people with blonde wigs stormed the house.**

"This seems to be…a cult." Oobleck noted as he adjusted his glasses.

 **The camera then cuts to everyone listening to Taiyang passionately preaching something from a book. Then everyone was on the couch cheering on Tai giving someone a piggyback. The same man then performed a worm on the floor.**

"The good kind, heh." Qrow smirked.

 **Tai was serving people some barbeque. But when it was the turn for the next guy, the barbeque ran out of meat and Tai sadly shrugged at the guy.**

 **Next scene was in the kitchen, where everyone froze in their own pose while Tai was making banana milkshake. Then it switched to everyone headbanging near the piano which Tai was playing.**

 **And by playing, I mean slamming it thoroughly.**

"Renny, Renny, I wanna join the cult!" Nora chirped, tugging Ren's shirt. Ren remained silent…for a total of 3 seconds before he and Nora broke into a laughing fit.

"Seconded that!" Sun added.

 **Now everyone was around the couch on which Tai was sitting. He was looking at his wristwatch, counted to three and gave the que for everyone:**

 _ **It's time to**_

 _ **PARTY!**_

 _ **PARTY!**_

 _ **THERE'S GONNA BE A PARTY TONIGHT!**_

 _ **Yeah!**_

 **And then the camera abruptly cut the scene of everyone cheering to the song to a lone Tai snoring on the pavement around food waste and plastic bottles.**

…

"That…was something." Commented Ghira.

"Entertaining I suppose…" Winter coldly added.

"Huh, never would've guessed that you knew the meaning of that word."

"Your juvenile jests won't work on me anymore Qrow." Responded the Specialist.

"So, Bob said that Dad should be here any moment…?" Ruby looked around and noticed that both Roman and Neo are not in their seats.

"Uh, anyone noticed where Torchwick and his sidekick are?"

Nobody got the time to answer Ruby's question since the occupant's attention turned to the stage lights suddenly going off.

"Oh, exciting!" Tyrian chirped, eager to see what will happen.

And then, the lights turned on. On stage were Both Roman and Bob with electric guitars, Neo with the bass guitar…

And Tai in the center with a microphone and an electronic keyboard in front of him. He had his head down on the keyboard and the mic close to his mouth, giving off a serious vibe around him. Or that's what Ruby and Yang thought since they couldn't actually see their father's face.

There was also an empty drummer spot, which Penny jolted quickly to fill in. As soon as the android girl prepared herself and took both sticks.

"I am performance ready!" she exclaimed.

Tai slowly grabbed the mic in front of him…

 _ **When it's time to party**_  
 _ **we will party hard.**_

The words came out in a robotic voice, which then proceeded with a heavy guitar riff (Bob) and drums beating.

And headbanging from the performers.

Lots of headbanging.

A light guitar (Roman) riff joined in, providing an actual melody to the song.

The first two to get up from their seats, to no one's surprise, were Nora and Yang. Nora dragged Renny with her, and it looked like he didn't mind it at all. Yang encouraged her teammates and Oscar to join in, although Ruby and Weiss were hesitant for different reasons.

"Yang, I told you I can't dance!" Ruby whispered.

"Sis, sis, this is as simple as it gets – I'll show you. You too Weiss cream!"

"This music isn't really my cup of tea…ugh, fine. And don't call me that!" Weiss said.

"Time to party! Blake, Oscar, on me! And I didn't forget about you three!" the blonde said, pointing out Neptune and Sun as she marched to the stage. Both Sun, Neptune & Ilia looked at each other and shrugged at the same time before joining the gang on the floor.

The initial guitar riff ended, and a clear piano note was introduced before another guitar riff was integrated into the melody.

 _ **HEY!**_

"So, Miss Nikos."

Pyrrha turned to Jaune, whom she heard talking in his known ' _wannabe-suave_ ' voice. She chuckled, fully knowing what he'll say next.

"Care for, ahem, a dance?"

"I'd love to, Mister Arc."

Meanwhile, Taiyang began to flail with the microphone cable as he began to sing:

 _ **YOU!**_  
 _ **You work all night! (All night!)**_  
 _ **And when you work you don't feel all right**_  
 _ **And WE!**_  
 _ **When things stop feeling all right! (All right!)**_  
 _ **And everything is all right!**_

A different guitar riff was included as the second verse came:

' _ **Cause we will never listen to your rules!**_  
 _ **(NO!)**_  
 _ **We will never do what others do!**_  
 _ **(NO!)**_  
 _ **Do what we want, and we get it from you!**_  
 _ **Do what we like and we like what we do!**_

And then the whole stage went wild as the chorus played with the background screen occasionally flashing red-tinted words that stated - 'PARTY HARD!':

 _ **So, let's get a party going! (Let's get a party going!)**_  
 _ **Now it's time to party and we'll party hard (Party hard!)**_  
 _ **Let's get a party going! (Let's get a party going!)**_  
 _ **When it's time to party we will always party hard!**_  
 _ **PARTY HARD!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard!)**_

Ruby realized that dancing to this kind of music isn't really that difficult. From what she's seeing, its mainly either headbanging, jumping around or flailing your arms and legs all around. She also took notice how Weiss quickly changed her stance on the music genre once she started dancing besides Neptune.

By her humble opinion, that was the best kind of dancing.

"Wanna dance, Ice Queen?"

Winter turned to Qrow who was already on his feet and was offering his hand to her. She suspiciously looked both at his hand, and then his face that sported the usual stupid smirk.

"…Alright. Don't you dare try anything." She politely responded and took his hand.

"Heh, wouldn't dream on it."

Bob and Neo started jumping around, while Tai began headbanging again to the rhythm of the drums.

"Ah, the joy of a live concert. Makes me miss my youth…" Port spoke in a reminiscent way, perhaps remembering all the good memories of his younger days.

While Glynda personally never liked rock concerts, Ozpin enjoyed the energy it gave off. He was not the one to ' _rave'_ as modern youth would call it, but he always liked the atmosphere.

 _ **ALL RIGHT!**_

 _ **YOU!**_  
 _ **You break the thing!**_  
 _ **And when you play you feel all right!**_  
 _ **But WE!**_  
 _ **When things stop feeling all right! (All right!)**_  
 _ **And everything is all right!**_

Adam wished he visited gatherings like these – his fellow members and even both Ghira and Sienna would often advise him to take a time off and have a break, so he doesn't overwork himself and break under the stress. Of course, he always ignored them, thinking that he can power through all obstacles without breaking a sweat.

' _And look where that lead me…'_

He took a single glimpse of Blake on the dance floor – she looked like she was having a good time with her team members and the monkey faunus. He didn't mind it though. While he was the reason why Blake joined the White Fang, it was also him that was the reason for her leaving it, and so he took Bob's advice and cut her off completely. So, he really didn't mind about Blake having another one.

He chuckled silently, and thought:

' _Ghira, on the other hand…'_

' _ **Cause we will never listen to your rules!**_  
 _ **(NO!)**_  
 _ **We will never do what others do!**_  
 _ **(NO!)**_  
 _ **Do what we want, and we get it from you!**_  
 _ **WE do what we like and we like what we do!**_

And on cue, everyone started jumping together, some even sitting on someone's shoulders. Those being Pyrrha and Nora on Jaune and Ren respectively.

 _ **So, let's get a party going! (Let's get a party going!)**_  
 _ **Now it's time to party and we'll party hard (Party hard!)**_  
 _ **Let's get a party going! (Let's get a party going!)**_  
 _ **When it's time to party we will always party hard!**_  
 _ **PARTY HARD!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard!)**_

 _ **PARTY HARD!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard! Party hard!)**_

Salem found the whole prospect of a live concert…fascinating. While she knew that the previous music video was a scripted piece of media that was perhaps aimed at ridiculing fanatical cults and mass propaganda, she could never have guessed that people would actually band together and dance to the rhythm of music.

In her defense, she did spend almost all of her life completely isolated from the outer world and, beyond her servants and allies, didn't have any interaction with the modern world whatsoever.

Ultimately, it didn't matter to her at all. None of this shall remain after the accursed brothers' judgment…

 _ **PARTY HARD!**_

 _ **(Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_

Raven always knew that Tai was the entertaining one in her old team – a weakling jokester, is what the first impression was of him.

That was before she got demolished by him in their sparring sessions. Over, and over again.

She came to respect him, and later even love him. And she would've stayed if it weren't for Ozpin's machinations against Salem whom she discovered that fighting her was essentially a losing battle.

She wouldn't have stayed alongside Summer and Qrow, the idiots who followed Ozpin's word like good, trained dogs. If she were given the opportunity, she would've made the same choice, only…well, she never did entertain the idea of taking her husband and her daughter with her into the tribe.

' _Ah well, the music is fun enough…'_

 _ **PARTY HARD!**_

 _ **(Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_  
 _ **(Party hard! Party hard!)**_  
 _ **HEY!**_

 _ **PARTY HARD!**_

The music ended as Tai stopped and gazed in front of him. He let out a single scream and smiled. This was it – he'd done it.

He could hear their cheers, feel their approval and content – and it felt good.

Taiyang Xiao-Long finally achieved his lifelong dream, and he was damn sure to thank Bob again for helping him, in more ways than one.

* * *

 **Inspired by: [I] "Cell vs Kenshiro #CellGames" by TeamFourStar; [II] "off-day" by hyper; [III] The Mitchell death scene from "Hunt Down the Freeman"; [IV] "Minecraft Parody FAIL" by Gonzossm; [V] "It's Time to Party" & "Party Hard" by Andrew W.K.**

 **I fucking love Andrew. Might do a one-shot of an anime with a character based on him. No promises tho.**

 **Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. If you didn't, then it's okay. Just don't send me suggestions, or someone will come into your house and SKIN YOUR FUCKING PETS-**

 **Ahem.**

 **Serious now - I'm gonna start a little pool on my profile (hopefully I'll manage to figure out how setting up a pool works here in time) and basically it'll be me asking YOU what should I do next. Should I continue with this, write something else or start my long-awaited rewrite of some of my older stories that are in a dire need of one.**

 **I hope you had a great Halloween. I know I did - carved the icons of both Rosaria's Fingers and Mound Makers, real fun I tell ya.**

 **Sneak peak time!**

"Saw this kid on the side of the road yesterday, couldn't be eighteen, seventeen...Had a shotgun across his lap, and a dead APR half in the ditch next to him. Couple of close range blasts with that 12 gauge tore big chunks of hamburger out of his torso. Kid was looking at the guy's leg, taking his boots. Kid just looked tired, just beaten down, ragged, tired, old. Kids that age...shouldn't look like that."

 **\\[T]/**


	8. Tapes from Lae Grond

**Yeah, it's a two-parter. I know, I know, I did say one time that I wasn't going to do something like this, but...fuck it, I'm getting notified that this story is actually gaining new favorites, and I really can't leave all you guys waiting, now can I?**

 **Anyway, this is one of the more serious chapters that actually has some world-building. Yeah, world-building in a reaction fic. I know, right?**

 **Volume 7 is finished, and goes to show that RWBY is going down the shitter. Sure it had some moments, but the bad stuff top the good stuff. I mean, RWBY's story wasn't a masterpiece to begin with, and yet somehow they managed it to make it even worse.**

 **If your plot requires that your characters act like complete and utter braindead idiots, then you know that something is very, VERY wrong with it.**

 **But considering how they hired a 3rd-rate writer for the new script, I'm an idiot for expecting some good story. Godfucking dammit.**

 **Let's go to review responses, shall we?**

 **Guest(Nov 4th) : I'm not gonna lie, you made me laugh for good 5 minutes straight.**

 **REALLY15 : Oh REALLY...15?**

 **andress888 : What's that supposed to mean? Why do you people leave titles and don't say anything else? What am I supposed to do with this? Have you hit your head as a child, is that why you're sending me reviews in form of titles?**

 **jeremiahkelley93 : Thanks. You from Alabama? If yes, then say hi to your wife for me. Or was it your sister? I dunno. Anyway, thanks for the positive comment.**

 **Nword(Guest) : I don't have a PS2 and I'm not gonna waste my time searching for a PC port. So, no.**

 **Guest(Dec 24th) : Thanks, I guess? Also, happy late Christmas.**

 **SnowballsFF : What could you possibly expect from a game that has President Keemstar and "My mother's DEEEEED"? I admit, Gonzo isn't for everyone...but since the previous version had the Hateful 8 scene, I thought this version should also have a rape scene.**

 **Because why not?**

 **I love Andrew to death. And I just couldn't unsee Taiyang as Andrew too. I'm glad you enjoyed that bit - I had a lot of fun making that one too. Semi-original content WILL come to this story, don't worry. As soon as I finish the Far Cry 2 tidbit.**

 **Guest(Jan 17th) : Nope, the Knight still isn't Jaune. Guess again.**

 **Enjoy bois.**

* * *

"How's life, Tai? Fixed that garden up yet?"

"Yep – managed to plant a few vegetables here and there. You know, peppers, zucchinis, lemons, things like that."

"Doesn't Zwei make a mess of it by, well…?"

"Hey, I trained him good! You're lucky that he's with Ruby now. He understands us pretty well and he'd take offense what you said now!"

Both men chuckled at the notion. From what Tai noticed, he was in some sort of a very-well equipped studio room. On the opposite side from where he was sitting was Bob casually rotating on his office chair.

"Is this where your little band practices?"

"Yeah – room's pretty good 'cause the time here runs faster than the projection room. Magic stuff, it just works."

"Sure, whatever you say." Responded Tai.

Bob stopped rotating and faced the blonde man head on and uttered:

"Before we start practicing for your little show, tell me…what do you think of Adam?"

The Huntsman professor was a little surprised about the question, but it didn't mean that he didn't have an answer.

"You'd understand that I'd be very keen to breaking every bone in his body for what he did to my girl…still, from what you've said, she should've known better than literally throw herself under a blade. Gets the temper from me, I suppose."

Tai straightened up his posture and added:

"As for the boy, I'd say he…well, he's in a dark place somewhere. Doesn't justify what he did, of course, but I have a feeling that the hothead didn't really had someone to help guide him." Tai let out a short sigh and his tone turned a bit sadder:

"I don't know man, but…when I see him, I see someone – I see how Yang could've become like him…"

"And it scares you?" Bob asked.

"I'd lie if I said it didn't."

Bob put both of his hands behind his head and leaned on the chair. He said:

"Adam reminded me of a similar spiteful little shit I've dealt with – though I'd say he's a bit better since I didn't have to kick his ass multiple times to reason with him."

Tai let out a short chuckle at that.

"It's weird though, he reminds me of Raven in a strange way, and you know it's not that they both use katanas, but…"

"They follow the ' _might makes right'_ rule? Follow it until it bites them in the ass? Yeah, I know the type – usually they are the first to go on the grinder. Some beg for mercy; some have this stupid face of surprise that they've been bested. Though I did notice a few who acknowledged that they're going to die by their logic – though I can't say that's the case for both of 'em."

"You know…you know how she'll die?" Tai pushed the question, worried about the possible answer.

"For Raven? No clue. Adam, on the other hand, gets murdered Yang and Blakey." Bob statement surprised Taiyang. He asked:

"When you say murdered-?"

"I mean they had the intention to kill him. Granted, he did attack first, but you know – screw all laws and Huntsmen training, take the easy way out: stab him like a lamb roast and watch him plummet face first onto a rock as he falls down a waterfall. It's a mouthful, I know."

"You know, as much as I want to believe you, I can't be the judge of anything until I've seen- "

Tai was cut off by Bob who rolled towards a stool and grabbed a laptop. The masked man then rolled next to Taiyang and opened the laptop.

"Eh, I knew you'd say something like this. Luckily, I have a few stored videos I like to watch. And before you ask, I can't see that far much to the future – the last thing I saw was Ruby's little gang illegally smuggling themselves in Atlas and then getting arrested."

' _Can't say I'm not surprised…_ ' Tai thought as Bob hit the play button on the laptop.

And so they watched the whole confrontation, starting from Adam's ambush on the antenna, then proceeding to Yang's arrival and their subsequent fights.

Taiyang was happy to see that his lessons showed results as he watched his daughter fight the White Fang leader, but he also had to admit that the boy had skill.

He noticed how Yang did show a bit of hesitance to act, which, while perfectly normal to fear someone who cut off your limb, doesn't help in the actual fight. He concluded from what he saw until the point where Yang broke his aura that blind rage was Adam's crutch, and she used it to her advantage in full.

What came next however, is both Blake and Yang dashing from both sides to Adam and impaling him with shards of broken weapons.

"Ouch." Tai noted.

"Yikes." Bob added.

The next moment where Adam plummets to his death is history as Bob closed the laptop.

"So, thoughts?"

"Honestly? Everything was good until the last part. I hate to say it, but you're right – that was murder. From what I noticed, Blake and Adam had their Auras drained and their weapons broken, while Yang still had both Aura and available weapons – as much as I don't want to admit, that wasn't self-defense."

Bob rolled away and put the laptop back to its place.

"Hey, while that might be what happens in the main timeline – yours won't have that. Hopefully."

Bob moved again now to face Tai head on and said:

"But why are you worried about this? I mean, if no one finds out…"

"Believe it or not, Raven did the EXACT same thing Yang did now when we were hunting down a criminal, whom we had to bring in alive. Bodies float, forensics make detailed conclusions and people start asking the right questions – it took all of Ozpin's connections through Vale and several favors to not expel her from the academy." Tai explained.

"I guess the King, the Council or whoever is ruling don't appreciate teenagers with superpowers killing bad guys, right?"

"No license – no killing. Otherwise you're just a potentially dangerous civilian with a gun in the eyes of law."

"Huh…Just to be clear, the ' _medium_ ' I watched your, heh, lives through wasn't the most explanatory one – in fact, the Huntsman license reminds me of another kind of license. Basically, the same thing with the same benefits, only you go through a literal hell of tests to get one. And by the look of your face, you want to ask me something."

"But this hasn't happened yet, right?" Tai asked.

"Nah, it's just a possible future."

Tai paused for a bit and then asked again:

"Does Taurus know?"

Bob chuckled to the question and he promptly responded with:

"Nope. Granted I did plan to use the clip at some point, but then again – seeing the way you die can cloud your judgment. Why you askin'?"

"Eh, just interested me a bit, no big reason."

"If you say so…Anyway! Showing you the clip wasn't actually my reason to bring you here to begin with – what I wanted to know is…can you sing?" Bob's question surprised Taiyang, who only muttered:

"Huh?"

"I mean, if you can't we can always adlib. Gods know today's pop stars do that all the time…"

"No, no, no, I can sing…somewhat. It mostly depends on what I am singing." Tai quickly stated. Bob noticed the gleam in the blonde's eyes, eagerly awaiting on what he will say next.

Bob took a CD case from a pile on the table and showed it to Tai:

"You're gonna be singing a song from this guy. Looks familiar?"

Taiyang stared in awe at the cover of the CD – which was a portrait of him with a broken, bloodied nose. The letters "TAIYANG X.L." were written beneath the face.

"Did I…did he really broke his nose just for the cover?"

"Oh yeah."

"…Awesome." He responded, grinning as he stared at the CD case. If the cover was any indication, not only he would be singing in his favorite genre, he would technically be singing his OWN songs.

"You up for it?" Bob challenged him.

Tai's gaze went from the cover to Bob, who was standing right in front of him.

"Always, dude. Always."

* * *

And so Taiyang Xiao-Long achieved his unspoken dream of singing a genuinely good rock song. Summer would always pester him about it, and really – who could blame her? Everyone praised him when he sang.

Granted his voice was stuck only to a specific genre – anything else he tried and he sounded like a dying goat exhaling its last breath.

"That was awesome, Dad! You were like BAM-BARA-BAM-BAM-BARA-PARTY HARD!" Ruby excitedly tried to mimic him.

"Yeah Dad, didn't know you had it in you. I'm proud of ya!" Yang grinned.

"Well, well, well, mister Tai's in the house." Joked Qrow.

Tai felt proud of himself. And while to someone else singing a song might be completely irrelevant and not worthy of mentioning, for him it brought satisfaction that he entertained people and got them on their feet.

' _Like a real rock star…'_

"Gotta admit, the old man's concert almost made me forget about that cartoon we watched. Almost." Emerald commented.

"Emerald – never speak of that…disgusting vile animation ever again."

"Wait, wait, what animation?" a confused Tai asked, looking at people to explain him what're they talking about.

"Please, don't remind me of THAT." Blake spoke, looking obviously uncomfortable.

"Didn't we made an unspoken agreement to never talk about it?" Nora curiously asked.

"Seriously, what animation-?" Tai repeated his question, which prompted Qrow to bend towards him and whisper the whole recollection of his and Summer's _'romantic'_ cartoon.

After Qrow quickly recapped everything, Tai scratched his head and spoke:

"That's definitely something that I'd make…sorry if you had to see that, I guess?"

"Dad, you didn't make it. At least, not you YOU, so you don't need to apologize at all!" Ruby brightly smiled, to which Yang groaned:

"Because it will not help with the ensuing issues caused by the mental trauma we got when we watched it."

And while Taiyang does feel a little guilty when it comes to laughing at someone's misery, he couldn't help but chuckle at Yang's comment.

The train of thoughts was interrupted by Bob clearing his throat, clearly meaning to announce the next clip they'll be watching:

"Alrighty, so, where did I put the next one- "

But he never finished the sentence as an electronic voice came from his pants followed by techno music and beats and the following lyrics:

 _ **Ursa!  
Ursa!  
Ursa in the woods!**_

 _ **Ursa!  
Ursa!  
It's got Cardin!**_

Bob pulled the phone out and answered the call, leaving certain students of Beacon baffled (and in Nora's case - amazed) by the ringtone of Bob's scroll.

"Oi, I'm kinda busy here…" Bob answered, shortly glancing at the audience that was waiting for his announcement.

"Yes, busy. B-U-S-Y, you deaf moron, I have guests. Yes, actual guests. We're watching some alternate timelines of themselves and so far, twas a ton of fun. Where they any trouble?"

Bob gave both Cinder and Yang a short look, his mask concealing any emotion he might've gave away to both women.

"Nothing I couldn't handle."

Cinder shot at him with a venomous gaze at the remark. Not like Bob could care less about her, really.

"You need me now? It's that important, huh?"

Bob exhaled an annoyed sigh and added:

"Alright, my sign will be there in three. See ya." Bob hung up the call and turned around to face his guests.

"Something important came up and I don't have the time search for the next clip."

"Why can't you just play something else then?" Weiss asked.

"That's the ' _best_ ' part – I don't have anything else. At least not now. And the one clip I do have is, uh, lost somewhere. Look, I'll be back in 20 minutes or so. Think of this as a sort of a…an intermission. So, yeah…bye!"

And before anyone could say anything as a response, Bob vanished in a myriad of light particles, leaving his audience to their own devices. Or lack of, really.

"Did he just bail on us?" Sun asked, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I mean, he did say that he's gonna return. And I guess he is busy repairing our timeline…" Ruby politely responded.

"I know, I meant it as a joke."

An uncomfortable silence filled the room for about a few seconds before Weiss spoke up:

"But what if he isn't repairing our timeline?"

"Weiss, what do you mean by that?" Neptune asked.

"I mean, for all we know, he could be a-a- a psychopath who kidnapped us for our own amusement."

"Okay, Ice Queen, where's all that coming from? I mean, Bob can be an a-grade asshole…"

"Language!" both Glynda and Ruby alerted Yang.

"But so far he was pretty honest. I think. Seriously, what's gotten into you?"

Weiss sighed and responded with:

"I…I don't know. Maybe my nerves are talking. Just forg-"

Her sentence was never finished as she noticed something fly by her face. The object was moving too fast to evaluate exactly what was it. Not that it mattered as the said object hit the screen and exploded, leaving a trail of dribbling blood-like fluid.

This naturally caught everyone off guard, some even reaching to their non-present weapons and some simply squealing like a little girl. The squealing was done by Jaune.

Before anyone could question what the hell just happened, the liquid started coming off the screen and was…forming letters and words, much to the shock of many.

" _ **Dear skeptical someone,**_

 _ **This is an automated message for you who starts asking specific questions & starts gossiping about me while I'm not here."**_

"I don't gossip! I don't!" Weiss defended herself.

" _ **I have helluva lot more things, important things, to do better in my time rather than to kidnap you all and make you watch a couple of videos and sometimes perform live with me. Doubting the work I've put into saving you and repairing your timeline honestly hurts me."**_

"Yeah! Weiss, you're mean!" Nora accused, which prompted Weiss to send her an annoyed look.

" _ **And besides – if I were a kidnapping psychopath, you would've been all transported in my sex dungeon as permanent guests."**_

That sentence made almost everyone feel very uncomfortable for obvious reasons.

"I did not need to read that…" Jaune muttered.

The blood kept spilling, revealing more letters:

" _ **Just kidding…"**_

"Oh, okay…"

" _ **I'd put you in my friend's sex dungeon."**_

"Not okay! Not okay!"

"That really doesn't make it any less bad…" Neptune added to Weiss' screeching.

"Screw what's written, who makes something like this?! It looks like a scene from a crime tv show where the serial killer writes a message in the victim's blood." Emerald said. Almost to the que, the last remaining passage was revealed:

" _ **P.S.**_

 _ **If someone thinks that this looks like message written in the victim's blood cliché from a tv show, then that someone obviously has no sense of humor."**_

"Oh, shove off." Emerald responded, who also elbowed a giggling Mercury.

* * *

3 minutes have passed, enough for the blood message to evaporate, leaving the screen looking as good as before.

Also, none of the characters went at each other's throats.

For Neopolitan & Roman Torchwick, the whole situation seemed a bit boring. The occupants from both sides neither expressed their desire to talk to them, since by doing so they would get the attention from the other side.

While Adam Taurus looked like he was contemplating on his life choices and clearly wasn't in mood for a conversation, Raven Branwen looked like she was waiting for something.

The reputation of the Branwen tribe was very widely known throughout Mistral – an indiscriminate bunch of bandits who pillage, rape & murder (sometimes not even in that order) for whom all the villages are fair game. Neo would know, as she personally witnessed the savagery that they wrecked on her home once.

Roman didn't think of them as nothing but parasites, a cancerous tumor that lives and breathes to take, take & take – never give. A particular someone would argue that he and the bandits weren't that different – that particular someone got the Melodic Cudgel to the kneecap before Roman explained on why such an idiotic statement was completely wrong.

The thief, not counting style and a very small moral code (that he'd eagerly throw away if his life was in danger), had a degree of restraint. To put it in a metaphor – the difference between him and the bloodthirsty bandits was that Roman would go and steal a couple of apples from an apple tree. He would let it grow another couple of apples before he steals those ones too.

The Branwen tribe would steal the whole tree and salt the land for good measure.

Don't get him wrong, he was glad that Bob revived him and pulled him out of the eternal nothingness that was the so-called afterlife, but he still can't understand for the life of him why Bob considered Raven out of all people to be on a _'morally grey'_ seat?

Both Neo, the robot girl and he were made aware of the seat positioning and the meaning behind them – the White seats for the goody-two-shoes, the Black seats for Cinder and her lot and the grey seats made for the people who did everything to survive. As for Raven…

' _Who knows? Bob said that he just felt like placing her there, but I just know that there is something more to it than that…Oh well, like it matters in the first place anyway.'_

"Greetings."

Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the new, unknown voice that echoed in the room. The source being a tall man that was holding a briefcase.

"Is that you, Bob?" Oscar asked the stranger. The boy found him quite out of place – long dark brown coat, a top hat with the same color and mask with a smiling face on it that looked just a bit creepy.

The stranger chuckled, almost mockingly so, and responded:

"No, no, no. I am familiar with the name though."

"You a friend of his?" Qrow asked, his look betraying suspicion on the character who looked like he was up to no good.

"Friend…is such a strong word – we would've had to meet regularly if we're to call each other that way. Acquaintance is much more precise. Feel free to ask him, I'm sure he'd, _heh_ , remember me."

"He's not here." Adam stated, eyeing the stranger.

"A shame, I'm on stretched time as it is and I can't wait for him. You must be Adam Taurus, correct?"

"Depends on who's asking."

"Oh, quite rude of me to not introduce myself – Marvelous Chester, at your service. And I do literally mean that." Chester said, offering the leather briefcase to Adam.

"This is addressed to you – I believe this is your property." Chester added, pointing out a piece of paper attached to the handle. Adam's name and personal summary was on it, along with a black and white photo of him.

The person on the photo was indeed Adam Taurus, but without the branded sign and any kind of mask whatsoever.

"This isn't mine." Adam plainly stated, earning some questioning glances from others.

"Well, it has your name on it. Anyhow, my little delivery job is finished. My client stated that all belongings inside the briefcase are yours, Mr. Taurus. They wish to remain anonymous, so there would be no point in asking me who they are." Chester said politely.

Adam reluctantly took the briefcase while not breaking the gaze on Chester.

Qrow wasn't raised up in a bandit clan for nothing – he knew that the shady character was hiding something. Not to mention how he coincidentally arrived just after Bob left.

To Chester's credit, he did wear a mask and his body language betrayed no ill intent, at least from the surface.

The masked man with a hat was definitely a professional, no doubt about it. But if he was to be trusted, someone else sent him to deliver something to the psycho ex-cult leader.

"I'd love to stay and have a chat, but my time is limited. Until we meet again." Chester bowed gracefully as he disappeared in a ray of light, in a similar way Bob does.

"Well…that happened."

Adam recognized the voice of the monkey faunus he fought at Haven. The one Blake was with.

' _Some things you can't shake off so easily, can you?'_

He placed the briefcase on his seat as his hands moved to open it.

"Wait! What if it's like full of bombs?!"

Adam looked to see the usually chirpy girl. He knew her name – Nora. Due to her childlike nature, he wasn't surprise that such an inane question would come from her.

"If he wanted us dead, he'd probably do it in a direct way without the whole introduction."

"Oh. Well, point taken. Don't need to be grumpy about it though."

He ignored her comment and flipped open the briefcase.

Among the papers and the files was something that immediately caught his attention.

A handgun.

"Oh my, it seems like our shady delivery guy wants Taurus to kill all of us!" Roman mockingly said, alerting some people as they saw the shiny pistol in the briefcase.

Adam didn't waste time for a panic to start. He quickly pulled out the magazine and cocked the pistol to eject any bullet that might've remained in the barrel.

"It's empty."

His action, not his words, brought the desired result, as no complications or violent misunderstandings arose, since it looked like he didn't withhold anything and was straightforward and honest.

He did withhold something he noticed – the gun smelled like it was recently fired. He placed it next to the briefcase and pulled out two things: A beat up journal and a closed file.

Adam opened the journal and saw that he, or whatever version of Adam Taurus the journal belonged too had a lot of words to write in. He decided to set down the reading for later and opened the next thing, the closed file.

His face portrayed a slight surprise as his eyes went through the words in a moment before handing the file to none other than Raven.

"Read it." Adam spoke.

The bandit's curiosity piqued as she took the file from his hands. When she opened it though…

A sly smile crept up her face.

"Something there?"

Raven's smile didn't falter as she shortly glanced on her brother. She got up from her seat and started reading the file out loud:

"The target's presence in the state continues to be a destabilizing influence. She's largely responsible for the recent influx of weapons in the country in clear violation of the Joint Signatory Framework. Her reputation as a dangerous arms dealer… is well deserved." She closed the case and added:

"Orders are to terminate."

"Is…is that about you?" Ruby, unsure of her question, asked her.

"Of course it's about her, kiddo." Qrow responded, and then added, "Arms dealing, huh? Fits you."

Before Raven could respond, Adam stood up and showed something new he had just uncovered from the briefcase…

"Is that a tape recorder?" James noted.

"Not any tape recorded, General…"

Oobleck dashed and leaned towards the recorded which was still in Adam's hands and spoke:

"This is the Mark I model, the first type of tape recorders. They haven't been in production for over 5 decades at least!"

"Are there any tapes to play too?" Blake asked.

Adam pulls out one of the tapes from a pouch in the briefcase, answering her question:

"There are more. This one, however, is marked as first."

The word " _Infamy_ " was on the tape, written with a black marker.

"Well, might as well listen to them before Bob comes. We don't have anything else to do now, do we?" Roman suggested.

Adam had to admit to himself that the criminal was right – there was no telling when Bob would return, and the tapes may give him answers to why he got the briefcase.

After dealing with an itch on his neck, Adam put the file back and closed the briefcase, the only thing out of it were the tapes, the recorder and the journal. He sat and placed the briefcase in the center of the room. He put the recorder and all the tapes on it and maxed out the volume so that everyone can hear it.

He played the first tape:

" _ **You can't break a man the way you break a dog... or a horse. The harder you beat a man, the taller he stands."**_

The female voice was course and slightly distorted, probably because of the old recording equipment, but it was immediately recognized as Raven Branwen's voice.

" _ **To break a man's will, to break his spirit, you have to break his mind."**_

Qrow could tell that some of the kids already won't like what his sister is going to say on the matter. And yet, he himself was interested in what she had to say.

He wanted to hear her because it would give him insight on what kind of person he barely avoided to become. On what excuses he would make and what kind of screwed up rules he would come up with to justify his actions.

The moment Raven abandoned Tai and Yang was the moment Qrow completely stopped caring for her. And why should he care for a person who'd consider some low lives to be more important than her own flesh and blood.

So, he listened.

" _ **Men have this idea that we can fight with dignity, that there is a proper way to kill someone; it's absurd, it's an aesthetic we needed to endure the bloody horror of murder. You must destroy that idea. Show them what a messy, terrible thing it is to kill a man... and then show them that you relish in it.**_

 _ **Shoot to wound, then execute the wounded; burn them. Take them in close combat, destroy their preconceptions of what a man is, and you become their personal monster. When they fear you... you become stronger, you become better.**_

 _ **But let's never forget, it's a display, it's a posture, like a lion's roar or a gorilla thumping at his chest. If you lose yourself in the display, if you succumb to the horror... then you become the monster. You become reduced. Not more than a man, but less; and it can be fatal."**_

The self-proclaimed Salem's most loyal servant was quite intrigued by the tape.

' _Wear the mask…but don't become the mask…A wrong, but an interesting point indeed, heheh._ '

Raven felt something she hadn't in a very long time.

Pride.

If first impressions counted, the Raven on the tape isn't probably that much different from the Raven in the room, the profession is the only thing that is different.

Raven herself noticed a difference – experience.

To act like a beast, but not to become the beast…that was something she'd wished she learned that sooner in her life.

' _Would've saved me a lot of trouble…'_

She also loved how uncomfortable looked Ozpin's young lapdogs when they heard what was on the tape – an early wake-up call for some of them. And if she knew herself…there would be a lot more similar words to come.

Her train of thought was broken by the loud coughing that was coming from someone close to her…

"Hey, hey, keep that to yourself, _buddy_." Roman uttered as he leaned away from Adam who was having a coughing fit that didn't seem to stop. Neo took a good look at the faunus to see that his skin and part of clothes were all wet from sweat.

Neo immediately prompted Roman to get up and move away from the sickly man, whose coughing fits changed into shaking and rapid breathing. He placed his hand on his head and gritted his teeth, making it obvious that Adam also had a nasty headache.

"Hey, are you…are you okay?" Ruby asked, worried about him and, well, others too.

Adam placed his hand on the chair and tried to get up.

"I-, ngh…I…" he muttered as he was half-way on his feet.

"You don't look so good." Yang said, almost mockingly so.

Adam didn't respond as his vision started to blur. Shapes were becoming harder to recognize and his hearing was waning. Not to mention the headache that was ravaging in his skull. The chills didn't go away – even the weather in Atlas couldn't compete to the cold he was feeling now.

He felt like he was dying.

For all he knew, he probably was dying.

His body went limp and his vision went black.

* * *

"Oh my God!" Ruby gasped. Adam's face first fall to the floor caught them off guard.

The first ones to respond were Ruby, Ghira & Beacon staff, at least the ones with medical know-how. Ghira was the fastest one to respond, as he already suspected beforehand that something was very, very wrong with him once he started coughing and sweating.

True, he didn't like the boy, but he believes that everyone deserves a chance. Even Adam Taurus.

Ghira turned him on his back and started searching for the signs of the disease that once plagued his home too. But even if he did confirm his suspicion, it would only open more questions – questions that he feared none would have an answer for since Bob was away.

"What-what's wrong with him?" uttered Neptune, probably fearing whatever Adam has is infectious.

The swollen red plump on his neck, along with some traces of a squashed mosquito, confirmed his theory.

"It's impossible, but…he shows every sign of malaria. A recent infection at that, I see a mosquito bite on his neck."

Oobleck eyed the briefcase and grabbed it quickly. He hastily rummaged through it, thoroughly searching every pocket, nock and cranny of the briefcase in search of any possible medicine.

He did however find a vial without a cap on it, and a piece of written paper stuck on it.

' _P. falciparum…this must be where the mosquito was stored. I'd normally conclude that Mr. Taurus, the one who owns the case, but…'_

"I believe that whoever sent the briefcase put the infected mosquito in it for sole purpose of infecting Adam Taurus." Oobleck stated.

"Was it that creepy Chester guy?" Jaune asked.

"Maybe. Maybe he was just a middleman. We'll deal with that later, but right now – what do we do with him?" Qrow asked, pointing towards Adam's unconscious body.

Ghira sighed, almost in defeat, as he delivered the bad news:

"Without proper care, he will die. We can only wait for Bob and, for his sake, hope that he has the medicine he needs."

Ghira took off his jacket and used it to cover Adam.

Oobleck approached the ailing boy and quickly examined him.

"While I respect privacy, no matter who they may be, Mr. Taurus' eyepatch is sure to become swollen in sweat. It needs to be removed to avoid further infection."

"Doctor, wai- "Blake uttered, but she was too late. Oobleck already took his eyepatch out, revealing the brand on his eye.

"…"

The Doctor was somewhat surprised that the boy in front of him had the SDC logo burnt on his eye, as he knew that branding was publicly frowned upon most kingdoms. The company allegedly stopped doing that.

Key word being allegedly.

' _Some things never change, don't they?'_

"What, what is it… oh my…" Roman paused and saw what was in front of him. He added:

"Always thought that bull boy had mommy issues. Turns out he has beauty issues."

"Stop it, Torchwick." Blake growled.

"Geez, alright. Don't get your kitty cat ears in a twist. Still, someone has to look over him in case he, I dunno, starts twitching I guess?" Roman made a point.

"On rare occasions such as these, I agree with Mr. Torchwick. I suppose I sh-"Oobleck was cut off by…

"I'll do it."

Quite a few looks were given to Weiss Schnee, who got up from her chair and started moving towards the unconscious Adam.

"Weiss, what do you think you're doing?"

Weiss stopped. She'd figured that out of all people, her teammate whose life got turned upside down by the sick man would protest.

"None of your business, Yang." she responded coldly. Yang in response glared at her and added:

"Come on, don't tell me you're feeling guilty for that piece of sh- "

"I said can it, Xiao Long!" she raised her voice. Weiss ignored the betrayed look of her teammate and knelt next to Adam.

"I-I can't believe it. You, of all- "Yang uttered, but was shut by Weiss yet again:

"This. Conversation. Is over."

Yang was discontent and looked like she wasn't about to just let it go. But it seemed that a quick tug from her sister and a hidden plead from her eyes was all that she needed to calm down…for now.

To somewhat lighten up the mood, Oscar popped in with a question:

"Mr. Belladonna? How did you figure out that he, well, has malaria?" he asked.

"I'm familiar with the disease. Not many people in the Kingdoms know, but Menagerie had a malaria outbreak shortly after I became chief." Ghira modestly responded, to which his wife added:

"But thanks to Ghira for persuading Valean doctors to come, Menagerie is now malaria-free."

Blake smiled to that. The outbreak happened only a short time before she joined the White Fang, but thanks to the efforts of her father, all the children who grew up didn't have the risk of a deadly parasitic disease. More so that most of those said doctors were human, something that people like Adam completely forgot when they served and acted in the name of the White Fang.

She looked at Adam who was being watched over by Weiss. Even after all he did, all the words he spoke and all the people he killed…she still felt a bit of pity for the guy.

The moment he told them it was all over between them…it was as if a mountain just came down from her chest. She doesn't know what Bob told Adam or what he did to convince him to change his mind, but whatever he did – it somehow worked.

And now that Adam was on a brink of life and death…and for some strange reason, it infuriated her to no end.

"Shall we listen to other recordings?" Tyrian openly suggested, almost in an excited manner.

"Since we don't have anything else to do, we might as well hear what is on the tapes." He explained his proposition.

While others were pondering about if they should listen to the tailless Salem's servant, Raven took the initiative and played the second tape – she really wanted to hear what her other self talked about next.

 _ **"Getting them in is easy, I brought them in over the mountain, through the desert, whatever. The hard part is moving them inside the country. Whenever you get stopped, you gonna bribe someone or shoot someone... Not good for business. No, once you're inside, you want to hand off as fast as possible, let the customer deal with it."**_

 _ **"How do they move the shipment?"**_

Most were surprised to hear Sun's voice on the tape, which put a lot of minds into believing that this may be an interview of sorts.

 _ **"Hm... I delivered three hundred kilos of explosives to Albain about six months ago. He showed up with a dozen of his men... dead men. He packed the explosives into their corpses figuring no one will search them. Smart guy."**_

"That's…that's wretched! And disgusting!" Weiss proclaimed.

"Then why did you become a Huntress in the first place?"

The one who posed the question was, to Weiss' surprise, Salem herself.

"Making decisions that would be practical and gain the most results, even though it might be viewed as unethical and…evil. Honor is something that spelled death for many Huntsmen before you." She forced the word through.

"Or wasn't Cinder killing your friend not enough of a wake-up call to you?"

The last sentence irked a few select people indeed.

"Why you…!" Jaune jumped straight from his seat, while Pyrrha held his hand to stop him from doing something rash.

"Perhaps I can't blame you, as you are still mere children. Your blood, however, will be on the hands of those who failed to guide you." Salem spoke, her eyes full of contempt gazing at Ozpin.

"It is true that Huntsmen & Huntresses sometimes have to choose the lesser evils…but one must also keep their moral compass in check, lest they lose their very soul." Ozpin responded back to Salem.

Both immortals were locked in an invisible battle, their eyes set on each other…

The pause was broken by Raven who pressed the play button on the recorder after inserting the next tape.

 _ **"Where do you get the weapons?"**_

 _ **"It's a romantic notion that they all came out from both Alliances after the Great War… that was a windfall back 10 or 15 years ago…but that's all over. I move weapons, I profit from circulation; you get a ceasefire somewhere in Mistral, both sides disarmed, you think they slag two thousand tons of guns? No. They sell them to me. I resell them wherever the next war is starting."**_

' _Hm, the course of that Remnant's history is vastly different from ours…I hope there would be more information revealed about that.'_ Oobleck thought as he closely listened to the recording.

 _ **"Those are Alliance guns from 15 years ago?"**_

 _ **"Hm... That's about half. The rest mostly come from old Solitas & Anima armies after they abandoned their colonies and moved north, you know, 40-50 years ago.**_

 _ **"So, some of these guns are very old? They have been sold, bought, and sold repeatedly?"**_

 _ **"Heheh, they aren't bio-degradable. Only the dead are bio-degradable."**_

"Well, you're a bundle of joy, aren't you?" commented Qrow.

"So many guns…and yet all of them are so old! How-how can you, I mean she, just sell them around?! They're bound to- "

"Fall apart? Explode?" Roman interrupted Ruby, and then added," Red, Red, still naïve, aren't you? It's not about the quality, it's quantity. And besides, why should she care about selling faulty guns? From what I've heard so far, seems like this Raven character sells to murderers and fanatics – nobody's going to miss them."

"Just before they slaughter a dozen of civilians with them." Ren commented, with hidden contempt behind his words.

"War doesn't choose its victims – everyone is on the chopping block. Just ask your Headmaster, he is sure to know more about it." Cinder spoke, her taunting words obviously trying to provoke a reaction.

Before anyone could respond, the crowd got startled at the low guttural sound of Adam. He was still unconscious but was clearly in pain. Weiss put her hand on his forehead and felt the heat radiating from him.

"He's burning up." Weiss stated, silently cursing herself for not being able to do more than be on babysit duty.

"Nothing we can do there, White. Anyway, on to the next tape, shall we?" Roman suggested. Raven gave him, what he could describe as ' _you really think you can boss me around_ ' look before she hit the play button again.

 _ **"Why arms? Why not car parts, dust...?"**_

 _ **"What's the difference? Same job really... You get up, you get on the scroll, you meet your clients, you discuss a fair price, you make a delivery, and receive payment. Sounds boring... But it's not... It's just... Simple. I'm doing what men have been doing for thousands of years. Trading one thing for another. Maybe it's you who want to attach morality to it... Make it evil? Insane... People are working gun factories in Mantle or Glenn... They're unionized, right? You think kids toiling dust in some remote SDC mine pull down forty-grand a year on a forty-hour week? You start thinking too much about morality... THAT's insane..."**_

' _If only I could've met this woman instead of the bandit garbage that is in this room…_ ' Arthur wondered, thinking about all the conversations and intellectual debates they could've run between them.

He really didn't mind that the Raven on the tapes choose a profession he would consider of low standard – his past mistakes in youth taught him to never judge a book by its cover.

Arthur still wanted to know her real, true reason for selling arms to, what he deducted, unruly war factions, if her mentioning the name of a prominent White Fang member alluded to that.

Weiss, on the other hand, felt like…shit. She really felt like a very, very shitty person now. For…for acting like all the Faunus who targeted her family were degenerates looking for conflict. For not questioning her father on some business decisions that had a red flag all over them. For not asking why the White Fang attacks the SDC.

It was…painful for her to look at Adam's face. At the consequence of her father's actions, and her willful ignorance of them.

Now she truly understood why Winter left the family and the company. Why she had a look of utter disgust every time she saw her father's face.

"Feeling bad for the horny edgelord?"

Weiss looked at the one who spoke to her.

"You should, you know?" Mercury added.

"Hey, leave her alone you bully!" Ruby defended her.

"Cry me a river Rose. Just saying – no amount of babysitting will remove that mark from his face."

'But it's the only thing I can do, until we all get out of here…' Weiss thought, deciding to ignore Black's remarks as she adjusted the coat that covered Adam.

Meanwhile, Raven's hand, that was holding the tape recorder, quickly jolted up to avoid Neo's sneaky hands.

"Impatient, are we?" Raven teased.

In any other situation, Neo wouldn't do such a thing to someone as Raven frigin' Branwen in million lifetimes. But considering that all of them were weaponless and auraless…she just had to do it. Consequences be damned, she didn't regret it.

She had Roman back too, so it would be a 2 on 1 scenario.

Neo responded to her by giving her an innocent-looking smile, which Raven found somewhat…amusing.

Raven played the second tape, not bothering to wait for anyone to prepare themselves to listen.

 _ **"Why Vacuo? People need weapons all over the world. Why here? Why my home?"**_

 _ **"Every place is somebody's home, pal, but it doesn't stop people from going to war. I don't start wars, I didn't start this one; it seems like it's your fellow Vacuans that want each other dead. Besides, why should I give a shit about your home? Why should anyone? You want me to go somewhere else... So that it's someone's home that you don't give a shit about?"**_

 _ **"What if it was your home?"**_

 _ **"War is my home."**_

' _Same old Raven…I guess some things just don't change._ ' Tai mentally sighed.

"I may be speculating, but Raven never mentioned any Grimm. At all, in fact." Port noticed.

"You think that this might be one of the Grimmless worlds, Professor?" asked Blake.

"Peter, you might be onto something. One of the more devastating side effects of the Great War was a vastly increased Grimm population, especially in battle scarred lands. That was one of the more prominent reasons why there hasn't been a massively scaled conflict." explained Oobleck, which prompted Qrow to speak up:

"And since on that Remnant wars seem to be a constant thing…"

But before he could add anything, Salem invited herself in the discussion by stating:

"It goes to show how violent you all are by nature. I would say that, even with the Grimm around, you'll still be more effective in killing each other off to extinction than I ever would."

"Then why send them?"

Salem turned over to see the boy with the pink hair strand. She estimated him one of the calmer Huntsmen from the White seats – someone like Hazel, a restrained mediator that is supposed to deescalate the situation.

And just like Hazel, it seems for both men it takes something specific to anger them. For Hazel, it was Ozpin, and for the Huntsman…

"Why send the Grimm to destroy when you think that all of us do it better than you? Why send them at all?!" Ren raised his voice, all while Nora looked at him with concerned eyes.

"Because I can, boy. Because it's the nature of all things. The less questions you ask, the single life you have will be longer." Salem responded, telling Lie Ren to know his place. But the young Huntsman was resolute to find his answers, but for now he held silent contempt for the Queen of the Grimm.

Raven silently inserted the next tape.

 _ **"I spent a year in Black Hill once. In the dark... It's a hell hole... Covered in raw sewage, guards breaking some inmate's fingers with a hammer, just out of pure fuckin' meanness. Men die of starvation there all the time. I saw a guy in the opposite cell catch a rat with his teeth, cause they have him handcuffed for 24 hours a day for two months. He couldn't eat. Seeing someone do that, he was weeping as he crushed it to death in his mouth. Seeing his eyes, his face, it's madness. He was dead three days later."**_

 _ **"What killed him?"**_

 _ **"Realization of what he'd turned into."**_

The last sentence sent shivers down the backs of the students, and it caused most of the adults to feel slightly uncomfortable. Especially since…

"Professor? Black Hill…wasn't that a POW work camp that was used during the Faunus Revolution?" Weiss sheepishly asked and noticed disheartened looks from both Ironwood and Ghira. Almost as if they were ashamed of something…

The green haired doctor quickly jumped to explain:

"Black Hill was a small fortress built by Mantle troops where they corralled all the POW's. It was firstly held by the humans but after the Battle at Fort Castle the Faunus took control of it until the end of the war. The fortress was notorious by the inhumane and downright barbaric treatment of the prisoners, from both sides mind you. Not many who were locked up in that death camp survived until the end, and for those that did…most of them committed suicide or were put in mental asylums."

Oobleck adjusted his glasses and continued:

"Now it's abandoned and will forever serve as a reminder that no matter how noble one may seem to be, everyone has the potential for cruelty."

Bartholomew's words rang true, James knew that much. He was being constantly reminded of Mantle's and Atlas' history by both the geriatrics of the Council as well as Faunus spokesmen in that war – he knew that it would be downright idiotic to expect change to come overnight, but he also knew that if he lost the sight of his goal, change would never come to be in his home.

While Ghira, even though he disapproved of her methods, still trusted Sienna to be his successor in the White Fang, he couldn't say the same for the Albain brothers. They represented all the worst aspects of the Faunus movement – to him, they were no better than the close-minded human politicians that don't like people who ask questions. Both brothers, back in his day, would rally people and try to instill the "us-against-them" mindset not because they wanted equal rights for their brethren – they only wanted power.

And they'd do their best to portray the Faunus as victims and generalize that every human is a threat to them. Fenec especially was prone to hiding all the possible war crimes the Faunus committed during the Revolution, leaving only the war crimes of humans while portraying the Faunus as heroic freedom fighters. A lot of young kids fell for those stories, those same kids that would later join Sienna's White Fang with glee.

Ghira looked at the weak Adam. Maybe…maybe if he wasn't so judgmental of him in the beginning, maybe a lot of things, bad things, could've been avoided.

He almost didn't notice the Branwen bandit putting a new tape in the recorder.

 _ **"How do you become an arms dealer in the first place?"**_

 _ **"Back in the Navy, we delivered guns all over the world, droppin' off guys with 20 crates of rifles for the local fighters, so they could knock over some dictator. Mind you, that's not 20 crates of fresh factory full automatic's, these were illicit weapons, confiscated in some raid and then redistributed. No paperwork, right? If a crate here or there goes missing, hey, it happens. Military teaches you two things: how to deal with bureaucracy, and how to avoid it. Learning how to avoid it means learning how to deal in arms. You muster out, you apply what you learned. Every gun runner I have ever met got his start that way: losing illicit weapons in transport with national militaries."**_

' _Navy, huh? No Huntsmen or Huntresses needed for the lack of Grimm, so I join the Navy? What kind of life she had before?'_ Raven thought.

"How to deal with bureaucracy and how to avoid it, eh?" Qrow smiled and looked at James, awaiting the General's response.

"I can't say that she is wrong – being in the military, it gives you a complete new perspective on the system. It is by using the newfound perspective I found after finishing the Academy is how I got where I am now."

"Huh, maybe I should've moved to Atlas and signed in – sounds easy and a lot safer, without having cops or annoying Huntresses on my back." Roman added.

"The old drill sergeant would've had a field day with you." James responded. Roman chuckled at the snark, and even at the prospect of him becoming a soldier. Trading in his bowler hat for a General's hat…

' _On the other hand, that doesn't sound like a bad idea…'_

Winter however felt a bit…conflicted. She always took everything face value and only focused on serving her kingdom and protecting its people. To hear that the same skills she learned can be utilized for something as debasing as arms dealing…it didn't sit right with her. Didn't sit right with her at all.

The sound of tape interrupted her train of thought.

" _ **Did you ever choose sides in a conflict?"**_

 _ **"Ah I did it once, was a bad idea, cut my profits in half. Almost got me killed. Never again. You sell to both sides. You can help level the field, stabilize the market, draw out the conflict and make more money. A big sale to one side doesn't generate repeat business. Both the APR and the UFLL are using my weapons. Now, they're in détente. Both sides are stockpiling. Less violence. More spending. It's perfect."**_

 _ **"But its anarchy! Thousands are dead, hundreds of thousands are displaced!"**_

 _ **"If I picked sides, fewer would be displaced but more would be dead; and I would probably be one of them**_."

Sun never considered himself to be a…patriot of sorts. Vacuo was pretty good by itself – life was harsh, sure, but people living in it always helped each other out, no matter if you had an extra pair of ears, horns, or a tail.

But hearing from those tapes that his home was going through some sort of civil war…it didn't sit right with him. He could only imagine what the civilians are going through – he knew enough from history books that in wars, it's the folk that don't fight that suffer the most. Being caught in a crossfire between two opposing forces, you'll be the one in the end that'll have to pick up the pieces. If you don't get killed first.

It was odd hearing him on the tapes. Interviewing an arms dealer. Didn't sound like he was doing it for the fame or money though. He guessed that his other self was doing this because something like this needs to be heard among the more fortunate population.

Provided that they cared to listen in the first place.

"Using the most out of other people's misery – methods may change, but the result is the same, isn't it Raven?"

Raven shot a questionable glare at her brother and responded:

"The strong will always trample the weak, _brother_. If they are in misery, then they should do something about it, no?"

"Nice to know that you're still an asshole, _mom_."

Raven chuckled at her daughter's remark, with a hint of spite adding to it. Yang just annoyingly looked at her, concluding that she was pretty much speaking to a wall.

She felt like breaking down a few walls now.

Raven took another tape and looked at the lable. It read ' _Humanist'_. So far, she didn't pay much attention to the titles, but something about this sparked curiosity within her. She put it in the recorder and pressed play, like before.

 _ **"Have you ever refused to sell weapons to anybody?"**_

 _ **"I'm a humanist, I don't judge, maybe you would?"**_

 _ **"I couldn't sell arms..."**_

 _ **"Bullshit, Wukong, you have all the skills to be an arms dealer. Better one than me even. You're smart, you're creative, you're a salesman, heh, you sold me on doing these dumb interviews. Man, the rest is just paperwork."**_

 _ **"I mean, I'd be unable, psychologically, to sell arms."**_

 _ **"I'm talking facts and you're talking theory. You're not a good person Wukong, you've just been lucky enough, you've never had to be otherwise. When it comes down to it, what a man can do is what a man will do, but believe what you want."**_

"That's not-that's not true! It's the choices that make someone a good person, not from where they are!" Blake protested. But she found opposition in her father, out of all people:

"Blake, honey…she and you, you're both right. But what this Raven character says…Listen, when I stepped out and became chief of Menagerie, I didn't isolate myself from the White Fang. I had a lot of friends there, likeminded people who believed in a peaceful solution…and yet they still stayed."

Ghira paused for a moment, and added:

"It's because most of the members of the White Fang didn't have any homes or families to return to – the movement was all they had. They had nowhere else to go, so they stuck with the movement, for better or worse. I on the other hand, had a home and a family to return to."

"You're not the only one who got lucky, Mr. Belladonna."

Blake turned and saw Sun, who was also about to add something too:

"I had a rough start – you know, little orphan kid on the streets, just one of many. Had to steal to eat and survive. Then one day I stole from the wrong guy. Got me cornered, broke my arm – it looked like it was end of the line for me. Then a Huntress came and beat the guy into a pulp. She not only saved my life, but she also kind of adopted me too. I don't know if it was out of pity or if she saw something in me, didn't ask, really. She sent me to Haven to train, went to become a team leader and…well, here I am." Sun smiled as he recalled all the things in his past.

"Are you still in touch?" Ruby asked.

"Nah, she wasn't one for closeness or stuff like that. One of those serious but has a gold heart type. Occasionally we call each other, but not too often – I think she kind of considers me her protégé or something and let me go do my own thing. If it wasn't for her, I'd probably still be on the streets and become just another thug at best. So yeah, I consider myself lucky for meeting her."

The momentary reminiscence was suddenly interrupted by Adam's violent coughing fit. Weiss grabbed him by the shoulders, not letting him slump on the ground.

The former heiress took notice how Adam got even paler than before. A short saliva streak ran from his mouth as his whole body shivered. Weiss put her hand on his forehead, and noticed he was even hotter than before.

"He's burning up!" Weiss spoke, panicked and unsure what she's supposed to do. Or what she can do now.

* * *

 _It was nighttime, and Adam Taurus was driving full speed on the earthy roads, rushing to get to the Lumbermill. Wukong called him and said it was very important to meet him up – changes were bound to happen in Lae Grond, big changes. Considering what happened a few hours ago after he killed the leader of the APR at Lug Falls, those changes were spelling bad for him and everyone around him._

 _When he arrived at the Mill, he ditched the car in the bushes and went straight to the safehouse. The place was abandoned after he torched it a few days ago, so there shouldn't be any meatheads waiting to get a shot at him._

 _He opened the door of the safehouse and was greeted by the sight of Sun Wukong, a journalist that came back home to record all the atrocities that are committed during the civil war that ravaged Vacuo. He found a few of his tapes, recordings of the interview he had with the Raven, the woman Adam was sent to kill._

" _Thank you for meeting me here, it was the only safe place I could think of. I heard that Corsac Albain sent you to kill Emerald Sustrai."_

" _Yeah. Should've known better though – figured out the hard way that I was no longer useful to him after I killed the competition."_

" _So, it is true – the UFLL launched a massive offensive in the northern district, and word on the street is that YOU were meant to be their first target."_

" _Guess I'm lucky to be alive."_

 _Sun sighed. He leaned on the nearby desk as he was about to deliver more bad news:_

" _They're still looking for you. And other foreigners as well – you've all been declared spies. The soldiers will come to Tukson's bar and execute all your friends one by one. They're also coming for the villagers – they know Father Ghira is providing shelter for them in his church, and when they come there…you know what will happen." Sun said, with a defeated look on his face._

 _Adam knew that he couldn't leave the villagers to suffer. His buddies at Tukson's can handle themselves well enough, he knows they're a far cry from helpless and defenseless._

 _The villagers on the other hand only have Father Ghira to protect them. He highly doubted that Ghira's faith will be enough to protect all of them from a hail of bullets._

 _Adam Taurus already made his choice._

" _I know what I have to do. What about you?" he asked._

" _I've arranged a car to get me to Sonvelde. I'll be safe there, for a time being at least."_

 _Adam went towards the door and said his goodbyes to his friend. He hoped up right into a parked assault truck and rushed towards the town of Skadu._

 _He passed by Tukson's bar on the road to Skadu. But Adam had to curb down whatever doubts he had in mind. He knew he can't be at two places at the same time. He could only hope that his buddies will survive the night._

 _When he reached the town, he immediately noticed that the town was completely quiet. Usually he would be greeted by the sight of frightened civilians that minded their own business and armed, loud assholes who either talked about some trivial stuff that happened to them or were crapping their pants when they saw him._

 _He had to give his buddies some credit – reputation around this place does wonders in cease-fire zones. Even outside of town, the mercs who would previously shoot him on sight now give him a reluctant pass through their guard stations. He does get an occasional idiot with less than half-a-brain who tries to riddle him with bullet holes. That same song-and-dance routine was honestly getting boring after the nth time it happened._

 _Still, he can't help but feel a bit unnerved at how the Skadu felt…abandoned. Adam didn't waste time and headed straight towards the church._

 _When he entered, he saw Ghira leading what it looked like the last of the villagers down a hole that lead to an underground passage to safety._

" _My friend, you're here! And you're healthy! Good, good! Come here, there's still time to escape!" Ghira spoke._

" _Father, it's…it's my fault. All of this is my fau-"_

" _Don't apologize for something you didn't do, my child. You couldn't have foreseen something like this." The priest interrupted the mercenary. Adam could tell that Ghira wasn't angry at him at all – something that eased his mind a bit._

" _Listen Father, I'll stay here and try to stall them as much as possible."_

 _Ghira looked at him with concern. But he knew that there was no point in convincing the young mercenary to change his mind. Once he's set on something, he does it._

 _And who knows? Perhaps with God's help, he may even survive._

" _Then please, move the cabinet over the entrance so they can't follow us."_

 _Adam nodded and went over to the cabinet. As he pushed it to cover the door, he could hear Ghira thanking him for what he's doing._

 _For Adam, the only thanks he needs is the certainty that all the people Ghira leads would escape unharmed._

 _Adam readied all of his guns. They were freshly picked up from the armory not even an hour ago – the chance of a gun getting jammed was pretty low. One less thing to worry about._

 _Pistol loaded up, automatic rifle checked, flamethrower ready. Grenades and bottles are also accounted for._

 _Taurus was ready._

 _Not even 2 minutes have passed and he could already hear some commotion outside the church. The commotion was actually the sound of a van ramming through the entrance, blocking any kind of exit for the mercenary._

 _This was it, and Adam knew it all too well._

 _The windows of the church shattered, UFLL men coming from everywhere._

 _Adam wasted no time._

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my. Bob is temporarily away, and because of that Adam Taurus is now in a pickle! Will he survive until Bob arrives? Will Raven change her ways after listening to her tapes? Everything will be revealed...in the next chapter.**

 **Also, yeah, spoiler - Adam survives. Duh. Should be pretty obvious, really. Now I'm gonna go and get me some burgers. Next chapter will come soon, doncha worry. It'll come.**

 **Just take yer time.**

 **Yeah.**

 **Bai for now.**

 **\\[T]/**


	9. Tapes from Sonvelde

**Well, goddamn, I went to get a few burgers and frigin Corona decided to ruin my fast food experience by making half of the fast food chains in my immediate area drive-thru only. Good thing the Subway nearby accepts take outs - goddamn the tuna wraps are good.**

 **In all seriousness, I'm currently hold up in my little student dorm - roommate left a couple of days ago, and I come out only to either buy groceries or buy something to eat. Social distancing sucks, but it's a must if we don't want the hospitals to be a lot more crowded than they are now.**

 **I have been productive however, as I'm planning a world-building crossover between RWBY and 2 certain games, the former being an FPS horde shooter that has fallen out of grace recently with its overpriced DLC while the second being a multi-part masterpiece made by a man whose insanity is even greater that of Monty Oum's. Unfortunately I don't have the access to all the games from the latter series, so I'll be focusing on the former.**

 **When writing the characters for the story, I overlooked a problem. A very big problem.**

 **RWBY, as in the show itself and everything about it, starting from the world, the Grimm, the Kingdoms, the science, culture, religion...**

 **The characters are on a whole another can of worms, don't get me started on that.**

 **So for the next crossover I'll be working on (after I finish rewriting the Panty &StockingXBleach chapters - no, I haven't forgotten about that), I'll be taking a few notes from Celtic Phoenix Productions (shoutout to him, otherwise I would've fucking killed myself by even trying to worldbuild) and a few notes from Vexed Viewer - for RWBY related stuff that will make you question RT's quality of writing, I highly recommend watching them as well as any other Youtuber who provides some good insight on the show.**

 **And if you're asking me how come I didn't notice all the writing errors, uh...I was kinda busy looking for awesome cool fight scenes that got me sucked into RWBY, but then when I saw that everything was watered down or copy+pasted from other animations (hidden plagiarism, yikes), I just kinda dozed off and didn't really paid attention to all the story and just waited for a good fight scene.**

 **Anyway, on to review response and an epiphany:**

 **Guest(Feb 6th) : I dunno, you tell me.**

 **Zapper Frost : No comment. :)**

 **MrMither102 and ThatGuy : Thanks for asking man, I'm doing fine. A bit bored cuz of the whole social distancing thing, but otherwise fine.**

 **Sephyrum : Read and see the notes to find out.**

 **REALLY15 : Yes, I did insinuate that some portion of the Branwen tribe might be necrophiliacs. No, there is nothing wrong with you.**

 **Guest(Feb 11th) : The only thing I regret is not being able to thank you personally, but, hey, a public thanks will do. You made me realize that, by responding to the bait reviews, I just continue the perpetual cycle of salt until the reviewers get bored or I get burned out and lose any will to write. So thank you for calling me out on that - trust me, I needed that. And no, I won't make an entire paragraph attacking you, because while I may be salty, I'm not unreasonable.**

 **So yeah, new rule - all the recommendations in the reviews will be outright ignored and possibly deleted if the user is anon and if I see it fit. I will be nasty if you decide to PM your suggestions - just ask andres888, whose feelings I hurt so bad that the dude just outright blocked me. Gave me a good laugh when I saw the notifications when I tried to see his message in my inbox.**

 **Anyway, new chapter. A bit shorter, sure, but still brimming with th T.**

* * *

"He's calm now." Weiss noted.

Half a minute passed since Adam's seizure, which left the sick faunus even paler than before. His breathes became shallow – over all he looked like a puppet whose strings have been cut.

"From the looks of it, I'm afraid that Mr. Taurus might not survive a second seizure. It's miraculous that he survived this one in the first place!" Oobleck noted as he examined Adam.

"He's surviving on willpower alone, Doctor Oobleck. But he needs the medicine if he's going to live, otherwise..." Ghira paused, looking at the weak form of Adam.

"I might have a proposal."

The words belonged to Tyrian, who now had the attention of the whole room.

"Why not, _aheh_ , put him out of his misery? By the time our generous", he emphasized with a bit of venom, "host comes back, he might already be dead. A simple neck snap – quick and painless. It's the best I could do, really." He grinned at his own suggestion. Naturally, some people revolted against the idea.

"No! He will-he will survive!" Ruby protested, with Roman, out of all people, joining her:

"Absolutely not. I won't let you touch him."

That statement raised a couple of eyebrows, and prompted Blake to ask:

"Why are you so protective of him all of a sudden?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong kitty cat, it's not that I'm protective of him - it's just that corpses, no matter how fresh, end up stinking a room pretty quickly." The thief responded, which earned him a few narrow looks from the students.

"Why look at me like that? You know I'm right." Roman smiled. And here Ruby thought that there was something in his little, black heart.

Nice that some things don't change.

"Wait a minute, didn't Bob say he'll be back in what, 20 minutes I think?" Nora perked up.

"Yeah! That was like, uh…maybe 8 minutes ago?" Jaune added.

"And Adam Taurus got sick approximately 5 minutes ago. Since Mr. Taurus' symptoms showed around a minute after he opened the briefcase, which I would assume it's the time span when the mosquito bit him…well, it seems that this place speeds up our metabolism to astronomical levels, but then why don't we feel hunger?"

"It's the air, Doctor Oobleck. I can sense that there is something in the air that somehow gives us enough energy to not need food nor drink." Ghira said.

"But if we have that super-fast metabolism, then why is he still sick?" Ruby asked, which prompted Watts to give the answer first:

"It's not a bacteria or a virus, it's a parasite – an alien organism living inside of him. Malaria is a byproduct of the parasite, and as long as it's inside of him the disease will remain."

"How much time does he have anyway?" Illia asked both doctors.

"Truthfully? It depends mostly on the person's immune system. But judging from the seizures he had so far…"

Oobleck diverted his look from Illia and quickly examined Adam's unconscious form.

"I'm afraid he might not have much time."

' _Great. One less bastard in the world._ ' Yang thought. And when he does die, she will rejoice in front of everyone, dammit all.

Raven mentally sighed – all that commotion, and in the end nothing interesting happened to distract her from listening to her other self. She eagerly pressed the play button again, catching a few of the audience members off guard as her voice came from the tape recorded.

 _ **"Saw this kid on the side of the road yesterday, couldn't be eighteen, seventeen. Had a shotgun across his lap, and a dead APR half in the ditch next to him. Couple of close-range blasts with that 12-gauge tore big chunks of hamburger out of his torso. Kid was looking at the guy's leg, taking his boots. Kid just looked tired, just beaten down, ragged, tired, old. Kids that age… shouldn't look like that."**_

Qrow's attention spiked – he noticed that the tone in Raven's voice became somewhat sorrowful when she mentioned the unnamed boy. While he did disown his sister that was in the room with him, he couldn't help but to hold a little bit of hope for the Raven on the tapes.

Raven herself was…conflicted, to say the least. On the one hand, she was somewhat disappointed that her counterpart was being sympathetic to the weak and unworthy, but on the other…

 _'No. She lost all respect I had for her now. That's it.'_

Ruby was glad that the arms-dealing Raven knew what she was doing. She only hoped that her Raven would understand that one day.

"Why, thank you your highness. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Ruby's train of thought was jolted when she heard Torchwick's voice. When she turned to see what's all about, she noticed the tape recorder on Roman's lap and Raven's disappointed face.

"Shut up and play." Raven spoke in an annoyed tone. Roman smirked in response and made his own, independent decision.

…

He pressed play.

 _ **"I'll tell you what's sick. People in Atlas, Argus, fuckin' Vale, Mantle. They pay their taxes and some remote piloted drone fires a missile into a public market to hit some warlord. Yeah so maybe war doesn't happen for another six months, and the price of their gluten-free sorghum bread stays low. It's not sick to arm people. It's sick to bump off their crooks and dictators in protection of our interest, and then call it international justice. These people don't have remote piloted drones guarding their interests ten thousand miles away, they don't have a war machine paid for with taxes, where I am they usually don't even have a fuckin' government. The drone is the oppressor, the gluten-free sorghum bread is the oppressor, the assault rifle is the great equalizer. I empower these people."**_

Watts' moustache was conveniently hiding the smirk on his face as he discreetly glanced at the depressed looking Ironwood.

' _So easy and quick to judge others, and yet you cannot see your own faults that are right in front of you. Serves you right.'_

It was funny to him how the arms-dealing Raven managed to both summarize the modus operandi of Atlesian foreign politics as well as how efficiently she could manage to convince someone that what she was doing was the right thing to do. Besides having a long and enjoyable talk with the arms dealer, he would've liked the chance to see in detail in what state would Remnant (d)evolve if the Grimm never existed.

Judging by all the previous tapes, both humanity and the Faunus are on a very good way to kill themselves in one of their wars.

James remained silent throughout the whole thing. He knew that the council back home couldn't have cared less about any of the other kingdoms if it doesn't involve either profit or power for them. Not Atlas as a whole, but just the people holding the power.

And that's why he has fought to become the headmaster of the Atlas Academy, to become the general of the military and ultimately become a member of the council himself. The trade embargo he put wasn't just to protect Atlas from its enemies – it was also there to stop the other council members from making idiotic decisions for personal gain at the expense of Atlas itself.

And if it meant being painted as a bad guy and have most of his people follow the misguided words of Robyn Hill? So be it. After all, in the end – actions speak louder than words.

"You okay there James?"

Ironwood snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see Qrow. The tone of his question indicated that the Hunstman was worried about him.

"Yes, Qrow. Even better – she reminded me of why I do what I do for my country. Perhaps…perhaps I needed to hear that."

Both Winter and Penny couldn't have been prouder of their leader after they heard his words.

The female Branwen twin still wasn't interested in listening the tapes, since her counterpart went from telling about her take on her own philosophy to…to talking about how the weak are trodden by the system and how she is fighting it through her own means.

For her, it was delusional.

The hypocrisy of that thought, unfortunately, did not get to her.

"You finished with your touchy-feely moment? If so, on to the next one!" Roman announced and played the next tape.

 _ **"What do you think you're gonna achieve with this interview? You think somebody in the Atlas council going to read it and come after me? Shit no, I'm a necessary evil. They want me here, they're glad I'm here. Because if I wasn't, they might have to come try to stem the tide. It would be thankless and worthless, and once the bodies started coming home in bags, they're screwed. A dead nineteen-year old from Argus gets more airtime than the death of fifty-thousand people she gave her life to protect. So even if they did give a shit, their own media prevents them from taking action."**_

"In the end it always comes back to how everything is portrayed by the media – Gods forbid if the current Council doesn't get enough votes for the next elections." Glynda spoke with bitterness in her tone.

Pyrrha thought it was too much of a coincidence that Raven would mention the death of a unknown young female soldier from Argus out of all places as that being covered by the media rather than the massive death count that she was trying to prevent.

She didn't even have to ask – she already knew that the news station back home made a big deal of her own death rather than the catastrophe that struck Vale. And she felt sick because of it, because some people think that her life has somehow more worth to it than an ordinary citizen who was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place and the wrong time.

Pyrrha remembered a quote from a Mantle tyrant who passed away decades ago, saying:

' _One death is a tragedy. A million is a statistic.'_

"Sheep must be guided, and since the leaders don't want to lift the finger, it's the cryers who rally them under an illusion of a common goal. A goal that they don't even understand themselves. Pathetic." Salem apathetically commented.

"Sucks for you that there are people smart enough to see through that." Yang retorted. Salem, however, wasn't born yesterday – even a thousand of years in isolation didn't rust her conversational skills.

"Did those smart people you mention took action when it was needed the most? If the White Fang was swiftly raided and crushed, the so-called Breach would've never happened. Yet they hesitated and waited." While Salem was directly talking to Yang, it was crystal clear that she was talking on Ozpin & Ironwood too.

"And before you tell me they couldn't have known about it – know that the truly smart should have accounted every possible variable and reach out to a solution. What they shouldn't is keep secrets from their allies. You are centuries too early to argue with me, child."

Yang fell silent on the last sentence and pouted.

' _Bitch.'_ She thought.

"Next one, ladies and gents!" Roman announced.

 _ **"Who gets the lion's share, that's what it's all about, whether it's between children or animals or warlords. It's not that everyone wants a piece, it's that everyone wants the BIGGEST piece. And the biggest piece doesn't go to the monkey or to the giraffe, the biggest piece goes to the lion, because the lion is the fuckin' king! That's how it works, it worked that way a million years before there were men saying otherwise… that's probably how it should work."**_

 _ **"But you are not the lion, they call you "The Raven".**_

 _ **"Shh, sometimes the raven steals the lion's share, but don't tell anyone."**_

' _So the arms dealer knows the rules…and yet she manages to always get what she wants. Maybe I underestimated her…'_ Tyrian smiled, placing both of his hands on his chin as usual.

Both Qrow and Raven had a chuckle at the recording.

"Heh, gotta admit – that was a good one. It's so…you." He whispered.

Qrow looked at his ' _sister_ ' (sister being a strong word since, after Haven, he doesn't consider her one anymore) and felt absolutely… nothing. While on the surface Qrow might seem to look disappointed and a bit sad, the truth was that after everything his sister put him and all of his family through – he didn't feel anything.

He was sure that if Raven dropped dead at this moment, he wouldn't change. Sure, he might grieve for a couple of days, but after that there wouldn't be a single thing that would change who he is.

When Summer died, his life completely went to ruts – family visits became rarer and rarer, alcohol and women became more and more prevalent in his life. Hell, most of his money went straight to booze and an occasional lady of the night. Even when Raven left, he would've considered himself an outgoing person that likes to communicate with other people.

But now…now he was happy enough to just watch those he cared about from a distance and give them a helping hand in the background whenever it's needed.

Raven's interest in her counterpart was back now, as the arms dealer said some very wise words. And what she said was true – everybody and everything, the criminals, the Huntsmen, the Grimm, Ozpin, Salem…they all wanted the BIGGEST piece of power for their own goals.

With that, the bandit leader agrees with the arms dealer.

"Hah, truer words haven't been spoken. I'd say this is one of my favorite tapes so far. Anyways, next!" Roman said.

" _ **I saw that truck you were driving in, perforated with 50. calibre rounds and torched on the side of the road. I looked inside, corpses blown to pieces and burnt beyond recognizable. No camera, no tape recorder, no... no book. So, I dunno, maybe you're dead, maybe not, maybe you find these stupid tapes and do whatever the hell you wanted to do with 'em, or maybe the interview's over…wasted words, wasted life…maybe I'll see you soon."**_

"I'm dead? Bugger." Sun folded his arms.

"W-Well, maybe you're not! She did say she never found your stuff so, you know, there's still hope!" Ruby retorted.

"'S that the last tape Torchwick?" Yang asked. Roman pulled three more tapes from the pile and showed them.

"Nope, three more. A bit strange considering this tape is chronologically the last one – it was recorded on 30th October, which is the last day of the interview. Yet the last numbered tape is on 19th October."

"That…doesn't make much sense. Why number them like that if you're not following the time when they are recorded?" Illia asked, to which Roman shrugged in confusion and responded:

"Hey, I wasn't the one who numbered them, so don't ask me."

Ozpin himself was in deep thought, thinking about something else:

' _Raven clearly said "these" tapes, not "those" tapes, so when Mr. Wukong's truck got crashed, she took the tapes for herself and kept them. Why do that? And what did she exactly do with them?'_

On the other side, an unconscious Adam let out a silent groan of pain. Weiss, however, noticed it amidst the noise and quickly put her hand on his forehead.

' _He's still burning…dammit all Bob, where are you?!'_

* * *

 _The meeting place with the Raven was, funnily enough, the prison he was put in a week ago after she made a jump on him and took the diamond briefcase – which, he later found out, she used to secure a safe zone for the civilians. And the last time Adam remembered, the prison was chockfull of guards, mercenaries and other prisoners as well._

 _Seeing how the prison was dead empty besides him and Raven who is waiting for him in the courtyard, Adam had to guess that the woman killed all the guards and freed the poor bastards that were imprisoned. Quite a feat. Not impossible by his standards, but definitely not easy._

 _It also shows that Raven really means business when it came to saving the civilians and getting them out safely beyond Vacuo's borders._

 _It took him a half a minute of walking through the empty hallways before finally reaching the open courtyard, where Raven was expectedly waiting for him, armed to the teeth._

 _Funny how a month ago he was dead set on killing the arms dealer who brought so much suffering to the innocents in Vacuo only to realize that she was doing everything she could to help them escape. Putting them in safe houses and providing alternate routes of escaping from the warlords and their cronies…_

 _Hell, she was the one who was pivotal in the civie evacuation in Skadu when he stayed behind in the Church._

 _That, and the realization that he too became a part of the problem._

 _No amount of helping Ghira and the Underground can undo the damage he'd done by working with the APR & the UFLL – destroying medical supplies, setting crops on fire, all for a handful of diamonds and an excuse that the end justified the means._

" _So far so good." Raven spoke first._

" _What's the plan?" Adam asked._

" _The civilians are gone, most of them have already crossed the border. An entire country is about to disappear." A touch of pride graced those words…_

" _What about the APR & the UFLL?"_

 _Raven's expression was now one of disdain and disgust._

" _They're in the way. We can't do our work if they're here – we have to isolate this disease so we can destroy it. I need you to do two things…" Raven began walking towards the back exit of the prison, with Adam following her behind._

" _Say it."_

" _There's a landing zone a click due east of here. The arms merchant is there with another briefcase full of diamonds. He's waiting for a chopper. He thinks he can get out of here."_

 _Her tone changed from disdain to tranquil anger._

" _Those are my diamonds. MINE. I need them for the border troops. So you get that briefcase for me, understand?"_

" _What's the second thing?" Adam asked._

" _The APR and the Front. New guys in charge – and YOU put them there. They're together in one camp now, making their goddamn master plans."_

 _Taurus very well knew that he put them there when he was on a hitlist joyride. The leaders, Cinder Fall & Sienna Khan, dead by his hand, as well as most of their lieutenants. All of them, except the two that made a deal with him to save their skin._

 _Mercury Black & Fennec Albain._

 _What they didn't know, however, was they were actually postponing their own demise. Adam knew he had to kill them sooner or later, and now was the perfect time to do so._

" _They know you, don't they? You could walk straight into their bivouac and they'd LET you, wouldn't they? Once you're in, you kill them both. Any way you'd like. Think of the possibilities."_

 _Adam smirked at that. Oh, he already had a few ways to dispose of those low lives. It was a shame that he couldn't do them all at once._

" _Got it." Adam said and went straight towards the gate._

" _You know…"_

 _He stopped at that and turned around to look at the arms dealer. The looks of anger and disdain on her face were gone, and now it was replaced with a look of determination._

" _People back home say they want to help. Every day I hear it. In the paper, on the radio. But they're lying, they're not ready to do what's necessary. They wear their halos and they stand by, wringing their hands."_

 _Adam couldn't agree more on that. But he kept quiet and let her finish._

" _But you and me? We found a way."_

" _We did, didn't we?"_

 _Raven leaned on a pillar and smiled at him._

" _Meet me at the border when you're done."_

 _And so, Adam left to do what's necessary, but not before hearing Raven say to him:_

" _You're the only one who can do this."_

* * *

If someone told Weiss that one day she would be nursing the man who worked against her fath- the SDC and perhaps personally killed some of the people she knew, she would call them utterly insane.

And yet here she was, watching over Adam Taurus, looking at his face where the brand of her company was deeply embedded in his eye. The brand that now made her question what amount of damage her father did with his decisions that brought the company such a bad name.

She, however, silently cursed the name of her grandfather – for if it wasn't his poor character judgment that choose Jacques Gele to be the next head of his company and to be the husband of her mother, perhaps the White Fang would've never happened.

' _Damn it all! Father has some warranted punishment coming for him when this is all over.'_ Weiss thought.

"Alright kids, 3 more to go!" Roman announced as he inserted a new tape and played.

" _ **Saw a firefight today, little skirmish broke out of this road block when some APR guys got lost in their truck. Maybe five or six of them trading fire with the UFLL guys manning the CP, went on for twenty minutes, guys popping up from behind rocks to spray a few shots, you know, randomly at each other, all of them almost too afraid to die. When it was over, the two UFLL guys who were unhurt ended up running off into the jungle terrified. I went down and had a look around. The guy had been shot through the stomach, bloody mess. He saw me and went pleading me to help finish him off. Funny how guys get shot because they're too afraid to die, and then they're lying there dying and they're too afraid to live…Idiots."**_

Raven couldn't help but chuckle. The arms dealer perfectly described every new blood freshly introduced to the a bandit clan, nothing new she hasn't seen before – all of them when the situation heats up go behind cover and blindly spray with their guns or they put up their melee weapon in defense, almost as if they're afraid of getting hurt.

And when they do get hurt, and end up missing a limb or two, then they beg for a mercy kill. Some think they began to question their life choices when the sword hacks away their arm and then realize they can't go back to normal, or as this Raven put – they are too afraid to live. The arms dealer calls them idiots.

She'd call them cowards.

That's why her clan is compromised from the best of the best, one she personally put to the wringer and saw that they are both physically and mentally prepared to do what she says. If she says to raid the village, they do it without question.

If she says to take everything all leave nothing, they do it.

If she says to leave no witnesses, no matter the age, they gladly agree.

And that's why Qrow would never understand, why her daughter will never understand – to have someone who follows you and do your biding without question…That is the kind of strength she was born to have.

' _And yet…why do I feel so hollow when I think about that?'_

Jaune, on the other hand, heard what could be a perfect description of him pre-fall of Beacon. Hell, even back at the initiation if he got mauled alive by a Grimm, which in hindsight could've happened, he probably would've begged whoever saw him to just finish him off. If Pyrrha wasn't there to pin him on the tree and pick him up, who knows what would've happened back there.

He looked at Pyrrha, who was nestled on his shoulder, her face adopting a serious expression showing that she's thinking about something.

' _Man…I really am lucky, aren't I?'_

"No comments? Opinions? Words of wisdom?" Roman was turning around, asking everyone. He then turned to Neo, who just looked at him in annoyance and tilted her head in a way as if she was saying:

" _Really, Roman?'"_

Roman simply gave her a sly smile in return, reminding her why she wouldn't have traded Roman for the best parents in all Remnant.

"Second before the last one, let's go."

" _ **You see these APR kids, or UFLL kids, or whoever's listening to these damn broadcasts on the radio. Khan, Fall. I can't even remember who, cause what's the difference? Glassy-eyed little shits shouting out in support of whatever propaganda, lies, bullshit's being spouted at them. It's absurd. These guys are already dead; they've blown each other away for someone else's...for someone else. Fall, Khan, UFLL, APR, there's no popular resistance, no liberty and labour. There's no ideology at all. There isn't even a desire to win. There's no sense in it, no sense in it at all. What would it matter if we butchered the lot of them? Would it change anything?"**_

Cinder was somewhat surprised to hear that she was the leader of, what she presumed was UFLL. While the name probably had to do something with both liberty and labour, she could already realize that those things were only in name – of course she'd use the guise of two words that sound so pretty in the ears of the gullible to get more power.

From what she'd assume, Sienna Khan would probably be the one who'd believe that what she was doing was right. But Cinder?

No.

She knows what has to be done for the sake of power. Sacrifice pawns, use human shields, trample anyone who opposes her – Salem ingrained those lessons in her from a very young age, and if nothing else, she's grateful for that.

Cinder would never admit that openly, of course.

But what it did pique her interest was the way the Raven said that she and Khan, and both of their factions probably, were already dead and they have blown each other for someone else's purpose. It was almost similar to her own situation with Salem, and probably even the moronic students with Ozpin – all of them are pawns used in a game of chess that is nothing but a lovers' spat between two immortals.

Pawns, however, if they make at the end of the board, can become the most powerful chess piece on the board. And that's what she planned on being so – the loss she endured in her fight with Raven was nothing but a small setback. After she got the powers of the Winter Maiden, she will come back to return the debt with interest.

But the thing the arms dealer said, about having no desire to win…

 _'It's nothing important – a worthless, subjective opinion.'_

"What does she mean there's no desire to win? Why would they fight then?" Nora asked.

"While it might not look like it, it's all comes down to keeping the status quo, kid. Remember when she said that when she only sold to one side it almost got her killed?" Qrow turned back to face the kids behind him. He then added:

"Wars are horrible and horrendous, sure, but you can't say it's worse than one side having the upper hand and committing mass murders on the other side – I hate to admit it, but she's right: neither sides having the upper hand on each other and winning means less violence, and with that less dead in the crossfire."

"So it's just…picking the lesser evil, isn't it?"

Qrow sighed – he understands why the kid sounds defeated. It just served as a nasty reminder that no amount of Huntsman training will make anyone able to change how complicated conflicts between people can become.

"Welcome to the real world, kid." Qrow said as his hands instinctively went towards the flask in his pocket, only to realize that there was no flask there to begin with.

 _'Probably gonna have to ask Bob about that…'_

Roman now realized that he disliked Red as much as he liked her…uncle? Pretty sure the dude was her uncle.

"Last one, ladies and gentlemen. Let's finish this." Roman then pressed play again.

" _ **If you have to kill someone, if you have to, is it somehow better to do it clean with a bullet through the head? Is it somehow worse to chop 'em up with an axe? And what if you have to kill ten, or a hundred, or a thousand? What if in doing it you save a thousand, or you spare ten? What if you save yourself? What is the measure of a man, or of his murder? By what insane calculus can we answer questions like these? Should we even try?"**_

Ruby's mind went blank for a moment when she tried to gather her thoughts to come up with a counter argument…until she realized that Raven might be right about that.

When she thought about it – the fight between her and Cinder was, no matter how hard she rejected it, is going to end up with one of them being dead. Therefore, she…

She has to kill her.

Hindsight can be a curse, and to think that if she didn't kill Cinder back at Beacon, Weiss might've died at Haven, if not for Jaune.

' _How…how many more people will die if I let her live?'_

If not before, Cinder very clearly showed in this room that she has it in for her and knowing her type – she'll come after everyone she loves and cares about before killing her, just for revenge.

She wasn't a stranger to being responsible for someone's death – intentional or not, she did let Roman Torchwick die at the top of that ship. What scared her was how she didn't feel any sort of guilt for doing so, and just moved on with her life without a second thought. But then again, she wasn't the one who delivered the killing blow…

' _So, I guess that kinda helps it? Gods, that sounded so wrong…'_

But when your own two hands do the deed, she felt a bit…disturbed at how easy one could kill another. However, when she takes Raven's advice to heart and had to choose between the life of a power-hungry maniac and the lives of her friends, her family and the Kingdoms…

She was afraid before of doing it, killing Cinder out of revenge for Pyrrha, for Beacon and for Vale, thinking that she wouldn't be any different from her. But then she remembered what uncle Qrow once told her - a Huntsman's job was also headhunting, which meant killing Aura-powered criminals and rogue Huntsmen, all in the name of protecting others and keeping the peace. And if she had to do it, if she has to kill Cinder…then she'll have to face the music and do it, no matter how much she hated it.

She might feel disgusted by herself, she might feel nothing or, worse, she might feel happy when her Crescent Rose ends the life of the person who hurt her, but for her – it would pay off in the long run. After all, she knew that her sister and her dad, as well as her friends would understand her actions.

Right?

"Huh, never expected Mom to be the overly philosophical type except saying 'weak bad, strong good'."

Raven turned to her daughter who was openly mocking her. Yang added:

"And you know, despite being an arms dealer and being responsible for the deaths of a lot of people, I'd still prefer her to be my mom than you, because at least I would've learned something from her if nothing else."

"Your provocations won't lead you anywhere…" Raven paused for a second before deciding to simply say it:

"Stop being an embarrassment, Yang."

Yang then adopted a somewhat cruel smirk on her face and looked away from her mother and stared at the empty projection screen. Raven could conclude what was Yang about to say, and she knew that there was nothing stopping her now:

"I at least didn't kill a little girl to get her powers."

Wide eyes and shocked faces from the White seats as well as a few looks of surprise and interest from the Black seats were most of the reactions to the statement. The criminal duo, however, wasn't sure if they were supposed to care about that or not, so they just slumped back in their seats and watched the drama unfold.

"Raven…"

Raven looked to Qrow who got up from his seat and started slowly walking to her.

"What. Did. You. Do?"

Both siblings looked each other with contempt in their eyes, looking as if they are ready to jump at each other's throats at any moment.

"I've already said everything I had to say. Ask your niece about it."

While Qrow was very much ready to kill the person he was ashamed to call his sister, her former husband was…disappointed. About everything.

Taiyang only glanced to Yang and saw the smirk on her, like she just became victorious, his brother-in-law who looked at his ex-wife in disgust. He wondered what else would be on the table to further the already broken STRQ even more.

But if he couldn't save his team from falling apart, he could prevent Yang from going down the same path with her team.

Yang noticed how her dad turned towards her, looking all serious. He whispered sternly:

"We'll talk about this later, Yang."

Sure, it was something that confused her a bit. Yang just brushed it off, thinking that she'll just have to go through one of her dad's lectures – right now, she was looking at her uncle and her biological… _mother_ , starring each other like two predators, waiting for the other one to strike first.

All of that tension was broken by a loud whooshing sound and an electrified blue portal appearing in front of the screen.

The minds of everyone couldn't process fast enough what was going on as in the next moment a body came flying from the portal and landing face first on the floor.

It didn't take long for everyone to realize it was Bob by the shape of the skull mask. What everyone did notice however, was the exorbitant amount of blood covering the guy. Alongside the blood were shredded clothes, numerous count of still bleeding cuts and…

"Gods, Bob, your arm!"

The arm in question looked very, VERY dislocated. Fingers included.

"I know, gimme a sec." Bob said as he took his healthy hand and started fixing the problem.

And by fixing, Bob means forcefully rolling the arm back to its socket and performing a manual reset of his dislocated fingers. The cracking of bone and cartilage didn't make watching the whole procedure any less pleasant.

"So, anyone got bored while I was awa-"

Bob stopped the second he noticed the unconscious Adam and kneeling Weiss beside him. He rushed towards him, completely ignoring what was going on between Qrow and Raven and immediately started examining Adam.

"What happened?"

"He got a suitcase with his name on it. The one who gave it to him, Marvelous Chester is his name. Sounds familiar?"

Bob sighed upon hearing the name and responded:

"Yeah – should've killed the bastard when I had the chance. What's wrong with Adam?"

"It's malaria, he…he got bitten by a mosquito that was in the suitcase and…" Weiss muttered out. Bob would've been surprised that none other than Weiss Schnee was looking after Adam if he didn't notice that his eyepatch was removed.

Bob nodded and, to the shock of others, began lightly slapping Adam on the face.

"What are you doing?!" Weiss frantically asked.

"Relax – he's waking up."

True to Bob's words, Adam started grunting as his eyelids slowly opened.

"Aunghh…It's…yough…" he muttered.

Meanwhile, Qrow realized it wasn't a good moment to settle things with his sister, so he decided to go back to his seat.

' _This isn't over. Not by a longshot.'_ Qrow thought.

"Alright, listen carefully here Adam. I'll come back with some medicine, but I need you to be awake. Clear?" Bob spoke.

Adam, however, was having all sorts of issues – from muddy blurry vision to being half-deaf. He did catch on the words "medicine" & "awake". Since even speaking hurt like hell, the only thing Adam could do is simply nod.

Through the blur he saw Bob leaving towards a sliding door and disappearing behind the wall, and thought that he was probably going to get some medicine, from what he concluded. He just needed to stay awake.

He just needed to stay awake.

Stay awake.

Stay… _awake._

"Wha-? No! Don't fall asleep now!"

 _Stay…_

"Don't-don't you dare die on me now you idiot! Do you hear me!"

 _A….wa….ke…._

* * *

 _He couldn't do it._

 _He simply couldn't do it._

 _He trusted them. All of them. He helped them whenever they needed something, and they helped him whenever he was somewhere in way over his head._

 _His heart almost jumped with joy when he saw his buddy near the arms dealer, and immediately thought that he could convince him to help him with rescuing the civilians. A one last mission together._

 _But then his other buddies came…the comrades he thought dead back in Lae Gronde when they made their stand at Tukson's._

 _They way they talked about a deal and how he wasn't a part of it…_

 _Even after everything they went through together. After all the blood they've shed and spilt together, they showed that they were just like all the rest._

 _He managed somehow to grab the diamonds and injure a couple of them. Injure, but not kill. Even after they've showed their true colors, he simply couldn't bring himself to do the deed._

 _So he just set the whole area on ablaze, and let the fire do the job he couldn't do himself._

 _Death by fire in Vacuo was considered one of the most painful ways to go and was frowned upon if used. One of the reasons why Adam gained such notoriety – he was a monster, a demon to others, one not to be fucked with. Most of the mercenaries at the guard outposts nowadays just let him pass without a second thought, because they know what would happen to them if they followed orders and opened fire._

 _Which came unto question his twisted logic when it came to killing his buddies – one might think that Adam condemned them to an even worse fate rather than just shooting them outright and making their deaths quick._

 _But all of his buddies very well knew what they were getting into when they stepped foot in Vacuo, and the very few he was unable to save simply took the gun from his hand and finished themselves off._

' _Don't weep for the wicked, you'll be crying all day.' Adam thought, remembering the words of an old priest he met back in Vale. He knew he had to be focused because he was closing in on the safehouse, where the Raven was expecting him to help her complete the last part of the plan._

 _When he entered, he saw her sitting on the table, obviously waiting for him._

" _Almost done…Give me the briefcase." She asked._

 _Adam put the metal briefcase on the table. The Raven opened the briefcase, looking at the multitude of diamonds that were pivotal to her plan._

" _They're all here. Good – we'll need them." She said and quickly put a brand-new Deagle handgun inside it before closing it shut._

" _What's the situation with the rest of the APR and the Front?" He asked._

" _They're still coming after the civilians. Probably think they can kill them or drag them back over the border. The only ones to die today are the ones who have it coming."_

' _Truer words haven't been spoken.' Adam thought as he watched the woman pour liquid Dust all over the room._

" _I've planted some explosives on the overhang on the cliff."_

 _She closed the empty canister and opened a new one as she added:_

" _But the det-cord's no good. So one of us has to go up there and short-circuit the blasting caps. That car battery will do the job." She pointed at the large metal box on the table next to the briefcase._

" _The debris will block the road. Keep the soldiers from following the refugees…"_

" _And kill the one who does the job." Adam finished in her place. The Raven started emptying the contents of the canister and looked at him and said:_

" _That's either you or me."_

" _The other one is going to take those diamonds to the border and use them to bribe the guards, so there are no problems with the crossing."_

 _Adam grabbed a small box of ammunition, enough for one magazine worth of pistol bullets. Raven continued:_

" _Those civilians are making it to the camps tonight. Every last raggedy one of them. Then, when the hand off's complete, that one, you or me, is going to put a bullet into their own head."_

 _So death by explosive suicide or death by bullet suicide. When it's put that way, it doesn't really make that much difference, considering the outcome is going to be the same – every refugee will live a normal life._

" _I'd do both jobs myself, but there's not enough time." Raven joked, earning a little smirk from Adam. Her expression became a lot more serious as she speaks to him:_

" _The only way this is going to work is if we see the whole thing through the end. Every cell of this cancer has to be destroyed. That includes you AND me. If we don't finish this, then the whole mission has been a waste. A farce. It'll start up again, just like it always does."_

" _Not this time." Adam stepped up to her. The arms dealer could see the determination in his eyes – and it was all she had to know. To know to trust him._

 _She put the diamond briefcase in his hand and, without a word, escorted him to the door. At the door however, she had a few last words to share with the man who hunted her for so long._

" _That gun in there is a good piece – never jams. One shot is all you'll need."_

 _Her hand went to the knob, but she hasn't opened the door just yet. It didn't matter to Adam – for her, for the one who opened his eyes on the world around him, he had the patience to listen._

" _You're a terminal case, same as me." She spoke as she opened the door._

" _Well, at least we can do something about it." He replied as he left the safehouse and trekked towards his final destination._

* * *

A well-powered, placed slap was all that Adam needed to awake from his malaria-induced nap.

"Stop. It." Adam gathered enough strength to growl out at Bob.

"Now THAT's the Adam I know. Okay, here – take one of these."

Adam saw the orange bottle of pills Bob had in his hand – no label, no words, just a simple bottle full of pills. He didn't waste time and grabbed the bottle and immediately downed one pill.

When he swallowed the pill, his mind became clearer and his body regained enough strength to stand on his two feet, albeit a bit clumsily and with the help of Bob.

"How're you feeling?" Bob asked.

"Better." He simply stated. He stumbled a bit towards the White seats and, despite the suspicions of few, only wanted to return Ghira's coat.

"Thank you." Adam said, loud and clear.

Sure, it was common courtesy to do so, but the Menagerie chief hasn't heard those words come from Adam in a very, very long time. He couldn't help but to feel a bit relieved that the boy is taking steps to become a better man, even if he has a long way to go.

"Alright, time for us to get cleaned up. I'm pretty sure I look like a psycho after a bloodrage while you smell like a dead skunk. Can you walk?"

Adam limped towards Bob, and said:

"I'll manage."

"Cool! He'll be back in a couple of seconds while I have to…make a few calls, so to say." Bob said as both he and Adam went towards the hidden sliding door in the wall. The few calls Bob spoke off were security-related, of course. Well, mostly security – he thought about spicing things up for the guests.

' _Boy, will they be in for a surprise when he gets here.'_

* * *

 **Inspired by: "The Jackal Tapes" from Far Cry 2**

 **I've always found the character of the Jackal very interesting, and it was kind of a challenge to find a suitable RWBY replacement for him. Luckily, it all turned well and I am happy how it turned out, considering the month and a half long break.**

 **Since I've finished this two-parter, my focus will now go on rewriting the PSG/Bleach crossover, because even to this day I'm getting new followers on that fic.**

 **But what kind of a writer would I be if I didn't show a SNEAK PEAK:**

"Why did you come back?"

"I wanted to meet the Butcher."


	10. Rewrite Pending & Full Chapter List

**By the look of the chapter title, I'm pretty sure you can come to a conclusion that this story is not abandoned.**

 **Trust me guys, it's not. And yes, I have a good explanation to why I stayed silent.**

 **The reason is now work - I came back to my old retail job because I love money and I a little extra cash for the 2nd year of college never hurts, no? Due to this, I will try to keep a consistent upload schedule - something I haven't done before at all, because moreso than not I find myself slacking on everything that isn't college-related. So - the consistent upload schedule thing is coming this Monday, which ties to an another thing.**

 **This fic...well, let's be honest, it's not superb writing. It isn't as garbage tier as the v1.0 was, but it's not living to my expectations as a writer. So the whole fic is going to be rewritten...again. Not re-uploaded like last time, just rewritten - I'm still keeping all the material I've done in it, although I will be deleting old chapters and replacing them with new, better ones. However, expect a lot more reactions from various members of the audience, better reaction timings on what the characters react to as well as...**

 **DUM DUM DUM**

 **A lot more plot. The only thing I'm gonna say is that, besides Bob, there will be another guy which is...well, let's just say that he's going to spice things up and definitely break some canon.**

 **Oh, and I also made a storyboard for this fic. Yep, everything is now pre-determined, which means I won't be doing any Sneak Peaks anymore. Now you will definitely now what to expect.**

 **This storyboard list is the final one, so no changes (no matter how much you whine or how much you protest) will be made. Period.**

 **Entries marked with a * will indicate either original of heavily altered content of the used media.**

 **List goes something like this:**

 **1\. Prologue, Introduction of Bob**

 **2. _Borderlands 2_ "A Meat Bicycle Built for Two"**

 **3. _Overwatch_ "Inflitration"**

 **4*. _Dark Souls 2_ Lucatiel's Quest Line**

 **5. _Micheal Mackay_ "Break (Let Me In)" ; _System of a Down_ "Bounce"**

 **6. _Chi_ "Anime Review - Heaven's Lost Property" & ""Anime" Review - Cherry & Gals"**

 **7. _TeamFourStar_ "Cell vs Kenshiro #CellGames" ; hyper "off-day" ; Hunt Down the Freeman Mitchell's Death Scene ; Gonzossm "Minecraft Parody FAIL" ; Andrew W.K. "It's Time to Party" & "Party Hard"**

 **8\. Far Cry 2 "Jackal Tapes"**

 **9*. Resident Evil 2 "4th Survivor"**

 **10. _Chi_ ""Anime" Review - Yosuga no Sora ****(a brother and sister kiss)" & ""Anime" Review - Yosuga No Sora Part 2 (HIS SISTER TAKES OFF HER CLOTHES)" ; _MamaMax_ "Life Sucks - Your Family"**

 **11*. _Dark Souls 2_ Head of Vengarl Quest Line**

 **12\. Blink 182 "All the Small Things" & "What's my Age Again?" & "Dammit" & "Feeling This" & "When You Fucked Grandpa"**

 **13*. Introduction of ? ; Bob vs ? ; _Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance/RWBY_** **Yang vs Adam**

 **14. _Fear, And Loathing in Las Vegas_ "Just Awake", "Rave-up Tonight", "SHINE" & "Shake Your Body"**

 **15. _Star Wars_ "Shadow Stalkers"**

 **16. _House of the Dead: Overkill_ Final Boss & Epilogue**

 **17*. _Dark Souls 1_ Solaire Quest Line**

 **18\. Chi ""Anime" Review - Kiss x Sis (SHE OPENS HER SHIRT TO HER BROTHER)" & ""Anime" Review - KissXSis (HIS SISTER STRIPS WHILE TUTORING)"**

 **& "** **Incest is Actually Hot (KissXSis #3)"  
**

 **19*. _Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance/RWBY_ ? vs Branwen Tribe & Pyrrha Nikos vs Cinder Fall**

 **20\. Departure of ? , _Tom Lehrer_ "Mashochism Tango"**

 **21*. _Dark Souls 2_ Benhardt of Jugo Quest Line**

 **22. _SsethTzeentach_ "** **Sseth Origin Story | HD | National Geographic Documentary"**

 **23. _How I Met Your Mother_ Suits Song**

 **24*. _Killing Floor/RWBY_ Mr Foster confronts Jaune**

 **25. _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ Operation 40, Vorkuta, Executive Order**

 **26. _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ SOG, Defector**

 **27. _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ Numbers, Project Nova, Victor Charlie**

 **28. _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ Crash Site, WMD, Payback**

 **29. _Call of Duty: Black Ops_ Rebirth, Redemption**

 **30. _Chi_ "** **TWO SISTERS MAKE OUT (Citrus)" & ""Anime" Review - Citrus (BLONDE GIRL KISSES HER SISTER)" ; _MamaMax_ "Life Sucks - Bossy People"**

 **31*. _Dark Souls 3_ Hawkwood the Deserter Quest Line**

 **32. _SsethTzeentach_ "** **Crusader Kings: 2.0 Review | You can (Not) Afford | Family Edition™" & "** **NEO Scavenger Review | Struggle™ | Survive™ | Sell Sewer Water™"**

 **33*. _Mortal Kombat/RWBY_ Gameplay**

 **34*. _Mortal Kombat/RWBY_ Gameplay**

 **35*. _Metal Gear Rising Revengeance x RWBY_ JNPR vs Bladewolf**

 **36. _Devil May Cry_ Mission 01-11**

 **37. _Devil May Cry_ Mission 12-23**

 **38. _Chi_ "** **The Pedophile Anime (My First Girlfriend Is a Gal)" & "Anime Girls Are Easy Sluts (My First Girlfriend Is a Gal #2)" ; _Mamamax_ "Life Sucks - Talent"**

 **39. _Godhand_ Gameplay ; _SsethTzeentach_ "** **God Hand Review | Beat Thugs™ | Demons™ | Women™"**

 **40*. _Tekken/RWBY_ Yang's Revenge**

 **41*. _Tekken/RWBY_ Yang's Revenge**

 **42*. _Tekken/RWBY_ Yang's Revenge**

 **43*. _Tekken/RWBY_ Yang's Revenge**

 **44*. _Dark Souls 3_ Anri of Astora Quest Line**

 **45. _MeatCanyon_ "I BOUGHT MY FRIEND HIS DREAM CAR #BLESSED"**

 **46. _SsethTzeentach_ "** **Evenicle Review | Wholesome Edition™" & "Rimworld review | Deep Space Organ Harvesting™"**

 **47. _Call of Duty: Black Ops 2_ Pyrrhic Victory, Celerium, Old Wounds, Time and Fate**

 **48. _Call of Duty: Black Ops 2_ Fallen Angel, Karma, Suffer With Me, Achilles Veil**

 **49. _Call of Duty: Black Ops 2_ Odysseus, Cordis Die, Judgment Day**

 **50. _Dark Souls 3_ Slave Knight Gael Quest Line**

 **51\. Finale & Epilogue**

 **And that's it. That's the chapter list for this fic, so you can now shut up about what you want me to do. For good, I hope.**

 **When I publish the rewritten version of the 1st chapter, the list will go straight towards my profile, so you can check what's next on the list.**

 **On the side note, I'm currently rewriting my PSGxBleach crossover fanfic and I'm doing a storyboard on a Metal Gear/RWBY pseudo-cross with some great help of evolution-500. Go read his stuff - it's pretty good.**

 **Anyway, that's it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to DM me and I'll respond as soon as I can.**

 **\\[T]/**


	11. Update of the Previous Note

**Forgive me for I have sinn- I mean, posted this.**

 **Yes, I know, I look like an idiot for doing this, but that's something I'll have to live with.**

 **I got a couple of more ideas that I should've posted in the previous update, but I kinda forgot.**

 **So, now I'll be extending the chapter limit from 51 to 69.**

 **Get it?**

 **69?**

 **I'M FUNNY!1!1**

 **Interesting comments I got from my review section. But before I reply to them, let's have a moment of silence for Madman479R, whom I PM-ed my justified reasons for saying the things I said while also expressing my distaste at his lack of research, as well as probably hurting his feelings with some of my opinions on request reviews. Why a moment of silence?**

 **Because he blocked me.**

 **Another one to the list, I guess. The only thing I regret about this is that the site doesn't let me view my previous PMs with the user that blocked me - I honestly should've screenshoted the whole thing so I could have a laugh every time I see it. Oh well, life goes on.**

 **Onto responses now:**

 **greatzane16 : Whitley is still being MamaMax. Try and guess who's going to be the SLAVE - hint: he's blonde.**

 **Six02 : More to come in this update of an update, feel free to share your thoughts on 'em!**

 **Everyone : Yer welcome mate.**

 **Cunt : Because while a part of X belongs in Y and a part of Z belongs in Y, not everyone from X belongs to Z. Also, no u.**

 **Crescentation : Dude, why are you so happy about an appearance of a dying woman who's childhood friends got eaten by a cannibal, gets separated from her ONLY friend who goes hollow all alone in a lake and eventually goes hollow herself after completing her duty? That's sad, devastating and tragic. Not fun or exciting. What is wrong with you?**

 **Justus80 : I've sent you a PM, but I'm gonna say it again - yes, I know there's a fuckton of reaction chapters focused ONLY on the Vorkuta prison break (mostly revolving around Jaune, which is very fucking creative) and I know it's been done to death by now.**

 **However, those same people didn't even bother to create a Cold War-version of Remnant where Communism exists and the kingdoms are just waiting for one another to make a move and blow themselves up, nor did they bother to include other characters to fill in the roles of the Black Ops game.**

 **Trust me, I know what I'm doing.**

 **Anyway, these are the new 18 chapters in no particular order for now:**

 **1. _Left 4 Dead_ Sacrifice Part 1**

 **2. _Left 4 Dead_ Sacrifice Part 2**

 **3. _Left 4 Dead_ Sacrifice Part 3**

 **4. _Left 4 Dead_ Sacrifice Part 4**

 **5. _Portal 1_ Chambers 01-19 ; Portal 2 Lab Rat Comic**

 **6. _Devil May Cry 3_ Mission 01-11**

 **7. _Devil May Cry 3_ Mission 12-20**

 **8. _MamaMax_ "I try to watch Soukan Yuki for 19 minutes" ; Life Sucks - Family**

 **9. _SsethTzeentach_ "** **Space Station 13 Review | AHELP: Clown Grief Pls Ban He™"**

 **10. _MamaMax_ "Get out of here I'm in the shower" ; Life Sucks - School**

 **11. _Half Life 1_ Chapter 01-09**

 **12. _Half Life 1_ Chapter 10-18**

 **13*. _Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance/RWBY_ Yang and Adam vs Cordovin & Ruby and Metal Gear Rex and ? vs Leviathan**

 **14. _SsethTzeentach_ "** **KENSHI Review | SSS Rank: Smuggling™ | Starvation™ | Slavery™"**

 **15. _The Critical Drinker_ "** **Midsommar - The WORST Movie I've Seen All Year" & "How NOT to Critique Movies"**

 **16*. _Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance x RWBY_ Bladewolf vs White Fang**

 **17. _Fallout: New Vegas_ Veronica Storyline**

 **18\. Dylan Dog no.228 "Over the Edge"**

 **FYI, Metal Gear Rising: Revengance/RWBY and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance x RWBY are two totally different things, just to prevent confusion. The last bit might take a little while to do since the Dylan Dog comic isn't translated to English yet - the only copy I have is Serbian. Which is a good thing since I'm pretty fluent with the language. Still, translating the whole thing is going to take time, but it'll be worth it.**

 **When the first updated chapter appears, I will be effectively deleting all other chapters so that, again, there is no confusion on what chapters are updated and what aren't.**

 **Anyway, that's all for now. Feel free to shiet on me in the review section.**

 **See ya soon!**


End file.
